The Scales of Peace and War
by Fate-117
Summary: The war has ended. Naruto has fought for his ideals, and with the help of the Alliance, is on the verge of creating a world where people finally understand one another. But there will always be those who defy such a gift... and they will sow the seeds of chaos. Will civil war tear the Shinobi Alliance and the Elemental Nations apart? Or will they uncover the mystery behind it all?
1. Chapter 1

_"The more you stand for, the more that stands against you..."_

Greetings and hello! This is going to be my first published fanfiction, ever! Needless to say, I'm incredibly nervous and worried about all of this. In fact, I came up with the bulk of the plot and nearly three thousand words of this chapter before working on this Author's Note. Anyway, I'd like to thank anyone who takes the time to read and review this story. I'd ask that anyone think before they decide to flame, if there is an issue please bring it to my attention in a calm manner. Not needless screams.

**Warning: This chapter is going to be a few thousand words longer than the 15,000 word average I'll be doing for this story. I know it may be too much to read or remain interested, but I felt that any less would be an insult to myself and those who have helped me. Besides, beginning and ending author's notes take up a decent chunk themselves.**

**Update 11/14/15: I went back and fixed some errors I noticed, added a small amount of content, then retconned some things. The first chapter should now be as smooth as the second one!**

I am very well versed in the world and lore of the Naruto world. That being said, I am still, unfortunately and despite popular belief, human. I do not have infallible recall. I will forget things. I don't actually get to watch the anime often, not out of preference, mind you. Which means that there will be things that happen in the anime, filler, better explanations, and actions that I will likely be unaware of. The most I get to watch is from others, AMVs, YouTube, and Toonami every Saturday. I just don't have internet or money for it. My internet comes from my phone, all of this will be written on my phone, edited on my phone, uploaded on my phone. Don't worry, guys. This isn't a phone-y deal. No, I am not proud of that.

**Was hunted down, shot, and later hung for that pun.**

I'd like to personally thank Masashi Kishimoto for the utterly amazing manga of Naruto. His story telling and character creation is, without a doubt, something to marvel over. My childhood will forever be marked by his work. My eyes are still wet from the departure of a best friend that stuck with me for 15 years, through school, through puberty (Never again), through relationships, and even through depression. That friend has inspired both my writing and drawing, has introduced me to other great friends and has even infected millions of others. That friend is the most unpredictable, hyper-active knucklehead; Naruto.

The inspiration for this story mostly came from the numerous text based role plays I do on a large chat room and group app called Palringo that is available on Android, Mac, PC, and iOS users. Feel free to join them, just pm me for more information. Because of that, this story will mostly feature OCs that I or my friends have created. Of course, official characters will be appearing and referenced often, occasionally being centered on. Characters like Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi, Tsunade, Sasuke, Darui, Sakura, basically everyone will with a large cast of OCs. Yes, even (With raps as hot as a flame, handsome and bad ass for all to see! His name and skills are riddled with fame, and that man's name is..) Killer Bee! It will be focused on the world after the war, my own ideas for things that happened but were never explored, politics, and many more things!

That being said, this story will not focus only on Naruto, if anything, he's a supporting character until one of the antagonists show up in a few chapters. This story's focus is moreover to expand and create the basis for a AU where myself and others can make stories with continuity. Meaning, there will be no outright main character, simply a living, breathing world where I'll be focusing on a few characters about equally.

Everyone in this story will be older and will be, reasonably, much more powerful than they were at the end of the war. The bar has been raised for most of the characters! Some of the OCs will even be more powerful than many characters were at the end of the manga. But I'll tell you all this now. **THERE WILL BE A FEW THAT ARE ABOVE KAGE LEVEL.** I'm saying that now to let many of you know that with great power comes a new level of problems. As our heroes grow stronger, so too do their enemies. However, there will be justified, plausible reasons towards why these men and women are this powerful.

More will be explained at the end of the chapter because I feel that I am rambling on and losing some of you. But be warned, I am a master at rambling explanations.

Anyway, this story will take place a few years after **Naruto: The Last.** Four to be exact. The world is far more peaceful than it used to be but the flames of war are never completely smothered. And the kindles are growing... The Shinobi Alliance has continued to grow and now a permanent alliance is in the process of being established, increasing prosperity between the greater half of the Shinobi World and acting as an international police force for their allies. But what of the rest of the world? How does the Daimyo of each nation feel about such a permanent alliance? What of the repercussions of Orochimaru's prisoners and test subjects that were left free after his first "death"? What of Otogakure and Orochimaru himself? What of Pain's prediction that the Great Nations will never truly care for the smaller nations? What of the political repercussions? And, of course, what of the unknown?

I'd like to thank my good buddy **Serious Sam** of **My Precious People** for being so awesome and helping me out, motivating me, and being someone I can vent ideas back and forward with. It would take too long to list all the ideas or modifications he's given to the story.

**This story is rated M for language, violence, sexual situations and humor, and possibly lemons if you ask nicely and do your homework.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but if offered the chance...**

**The Scales of Peace and War**

**Chapter I - "The calm before..."**

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Sogeki had to admit, the village rarely ever seemed so quiet and peaceful than it did at that moment. The cool, night time breeze flowed through the streets and rustled the leaves that the village was named after. Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or simply Konoha were the names of his home. The moon settled over the, currently, six heads in the Hokage monument to the north of the village and illuminated the entire landscape. This gave the village a sort of glow that brought ease to the mind.

The moonlight gleamed against his white ANBU hoodie and a bit onto his mask as he sat within the many branches of a tall tree in the village's park area; the leaves around him cast shadows to give him a decent hiding spot from afar. Not that he really needed to be hiding, he was on duty and he was a sensory type. So anything within the village or even the forests near the walls were in his sights. Each person had a different chakra frequency and Sogeki had been trained to track and hunt these frequencies for miles and miles, and, thankfully, he was alone in the park. Well, mostly alone.

There were a few couples out by the lake. Through his sensory abilities, Sogeki could tell that they were mostly civilians or tourist shinobi to the village on their honey moon. Thankfully, none of them seemed too exceptionally powerful so Sogeki didn't need to stay alert more so than he always was. Though they were out of his direct sight, he could easily see that they were at peace and close enough for their chakra to blend together. Call it love, but the chakra of two people who share such a strong bond at some point begin to blend together into similar signatures and atmosphere. Truly a beautiful thing and all, but in Sogeki's line of work, it only complicated things. The chakra of each person stays unique to an expert, but an amateur wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Tracking and assassinations of kill-on-sight targets could sometimes be mistaken for someone they share a bond with. Fortunately, the ANBU - or any respectable shinobi for that matter - would make sure to confirm their targets by visuals, information, as well as spying. Sogeki thought about how when he was younger and still new to ANBU, his superior had to stop him from destroying an estate because the target's fiance was actually the one home. A poor rookie mistake he refused to make ever again.

As time went on, Sogeki found his mind wandering from the objective and more towards rambling thoughts of his life; his father, his role in the ANBU, and his place in the Kamikura clan. His father was a very proud and loud man, he was the head of the clan but he sometimes acted like a child when it came to maturity and drinking. A comparable trait to his childhood friend, from what Sogeki had heard; The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. 'If that were true about the First, it's astonishing to see the village is still standing. But, if the First could keep the entire village stable, then I should believe that my father could _at least_ keep the clan stable,' Sogeki thought to himself as he turned his gaze over towards the monument's head of the First. 'If he weren't in charge, I would have to be sooner than later, or..'

The sudden thought of his elder sister being in charge of the clan caused him to tense up, as if he could smell the fires that would burn everything that his family has built to ashes. He had even stopped breathing. Sogeki loved his sister, but, she could be a very hard and scary woman with a temper that rivaled a Biju. She _WAS_ the heir to the clan, but managed to intimidate their father and manipulate their grandfather into passing it down to Sogeki, much to the boy's dismay. Neither of them truly wanted to be in charge, at least not yet in Sogeki's case, but they had different reasons. Sogeki certainly didn't want to be forced into a role that he himself did not earn, or lose everything that he'd achieved with his own strength. He was young and still had goals that didn't involve the borderline slavery one goes through when they're the head of a very large clan. He would rather remain in the ANBU, at least until he made a legacy and a name for himself. Hell, maybe even become the Commander of the ANBU or become a Jonin with a Genin squad.

Motoko, on the other hand, had a much less noble justification for her removal; she wanted freedom. She loved her job, friends, and her free time. Nothing interrupts her free time and survives her wrath, much like the Fifth, Tsunade. The last time she was upset, she managed to take on an entire enemy band of A and S ranks on her mission; no other survivors. Motoko really was feared by Sogeki and their father while their grandfather, Ryuken, loved and cherished her like a little girl. Maybe he saw her as the eighth daughter he never had. 'Or maybe because they both are alike, scary, easy to anger, powerful, and craz-.'

Suddenly, there was a loud static noise coming from the earpiece in the hood of the ANBU jacket that caused Sogeki to have a small panic attack, dragging him back into reality. He had no idea just how long he'd been daydreaming about his family but he had noticed the people by the lake had left, probably because of the increasingly cold wind that signaled winter was coming.

'No, not winter.' This wasn't natural, winter was at least a few weeks away so it was too soon to feel the air becoming this cold already. The weather said nothing of cold fronts, either. So, what was it?

Just then, he noticed the familiar chakra of one of his squad mates near him. Finally, it was time for the mission. Almost if it were coordinated, someone landed on the branches of the tree Sogeki had made his waiting spot, bearing an Eagle ANBU mask with the hood of his hoodie down, which revealed his shoulder length brunette hair. The wind had suddenly picked up into a small chilling gust just as the newcomer slowly lifted his head to meet Sogeki's dark eyed gaze, exchanging no words or any signs of acknowledgment but a blink of his featureless pale white eyes.

"You're early, trouble at home?" The ANBU asked, finally breaking the silence, but not by much, considering just how quiet he had whispered it. With that one question, however, all of the professional tension was broken between these two ANBU.

A subconscious chuckle escaped Sogeki's mouth, 'damn, am I that easy to read?' He thought. "Yes, actually. My sister had decided to use my mask for a childish prank on Nadamara. Incredibly annoying, but thankfully Nada-chan made her bring it back immediately." Sogeki added with a small dismissive wave of his hand, as if his older sister's childish schemes were nothing more than an annoying fly. "As soon as I made it home, my grandfather somehow cornered me just so he could talk to me about some clan meeting in a few days. You can imagine how that went."

"You bowed your head and said 'yes, honorable grandfather' like a good little boy?" Eagle asked with a small chuckle at the end as he found the most comfortable position he could manage in the branches.

"Were it so easy..." Sogeki mumbled to himself before sighing and digging the index claw of his gloved hand into the tree bark. He clinched his jaw when he thought about his damned grandfather's pestering. "No, I told him that I would be busy and have a mission then. I then told him to bring Motoko, which was the name that sealed my fate." Sogeki paused for dramatic effect.

"She was behind you?"

"She was behind me."

"Hahaha! And you call yourself a sensory type? That's two people that managed to corner you and they were both your own family members." Eagle chuckled and nudged his partner in the arm. "Maybe I should request someone else to spot for, you're hindering my _noble_ Hyuga talents."

Sogeki sighed then shook his head. "I was just lucky that Nadamara was still with her so my grandfather said he'd talk about it later and she forced Motoko to tell me she placed a storage seal inside of my mask." Eagle winced when he imagined just what could had been inside of the seal. But part of both him and Sogeki admired the practical use and ingenuity it could hold if it were used to store information or even critical mission items rather than pranks.

Honestly, if Motoko wasn't as powerful or skilled as she was, there would be no feasible way for her to be where she was now. His sister was actually known as one the more powerful shinobi within the major shinobi villages. Considered a prodigy, even among their clan, graduated from the Academy at six, something Kakashi had accomplished as well, with scores that bordered on impossible in academics and the three main Shinobi Arts - she was even accused of cheating or being given military grade food pills. She later joined the ANBU by the age of ten where she excelled at gathering intelligence, stealth, and assassination. She possessed a core strength that even the Akimichi could respect. Even though it galled him to admit, but her genetics, even within a genetically diverse clan such as theirs, were better than most.

The Kamikura were a very old, very traditional clan that has been around for centuries in different incarnations, mostly as Samurai. The most current being at least a century old. They still practiced the _perfect heir_ mentality. Each member of the noble line had their spouses or even mates meant for sexual reproduction determined by the elders that lived north of the Land of Iron due to much of the clan originated as Samurai and blacksmiths until one hundred years ago. This practice wasn't uncommon among noble clans, surely clans like the Hyuga or Uchiha have used this mentality, possibly even today for the Hyuga. But where some clans wanted purity of their bloodlines, the Kamikura sought power and traits to share with the clan.

Powerful genes were viewed as a status symbol and great contribution to the clan, even more than trade contracts. If one family managed to produce a better heir, they could petition to be placed on the council and even have their offspring placed as the potential head of the clan. However, because Ryuken had always produced the best heirs and was the _de facto_ clan elder since its conversion, his descendants have always "been of a higher caliber". Which is why Motoko was named heir to the entire clan, even the sects that lived elsewhere, outside of the Land of Iron. Well, perhaps they made too perfect of a woman to become heir, because now she was bending the entire clan and ANBU into whatever she wanted.

And she was no longer the heir.

"Glad to see SOMEONE isn't afraid to stand up to the tyrannical Commander Motoko," Eagle laughed, showing more emotion than almost any other ANBU in history. "Were you aware that she gambled me out of my clothes and money the other night?" He added as he attempted to reenact the awkward posture he must have had during that night. "Right in front of everyone, too."

"Really, and you call yourself a Hyuga? Wonder if I should petition for a new spotter.. I also wonder what your family thought of that." Sogeki teased his longtime teammate and friend on his inability to see through Motoko's games, Byakugan and all. Eagle, upon first glance, would seem like a well trained ANBU member with no emotions, much like his stoic clansmen and like the rest of the ANBU. Cold and sharp, like the blade they carried on their backs. But, after getting to see past the hard exterior of a shinobi, they could see the man beneath the mask and armor like Sogeki could. Eagle was as far from heartless as an ANBU could get and was as different as night and day to the rest of the esteemed Hyuga clan.

"That's the thing, I had to give her a full week's pay to keep silent about it. Luckily it wasn't this cold when I had to run home naked." Eagle spoke with an awkward tone, his head turning to the village as he thought about the sudden change in temperature from earlier. What was once a cool, breezy night had turned into... _this_. But it wasn't just this sudden chill that made not only Eagle, but Sogeki feel uneasy as well. The very air seemed to be tense and flowing as if it were fleeing, much like those flocks of birds. 'Wait, the wind is blowing from the south west, despite always coming from the east.' Eagle then tilted his head up towards the sky, noticing that the clouds were literally being pushed towards each other above him. There were two paths the clouds followed, one was the natural path from the sea out to the east. The other... the other path was from the south west and teeming with entire swarms of birds, but these clouds were unnatural, as if they were ripples from something. They were low to the ground, but so thick that they blocked out the view of the stars and moonlight over the horizon. 'This is strange.'

Sogeki had decided to keep quiet as Eagle had one of his analysis moments, which was one of the only times he could be serious. He did, however, watch Eagle's pale eyes drift up to the sky and towards the horizons in the east and west. Whatever he was seeing up there didn't come to Sogeki's thought process. After a few silent moments, Eagle then held up his right index and middle fingers. Sogeki felt his partner activate his Kekkai Genkai even though the mask hid the effects it had on his veins. 'What the hell is he doing?'

"Hey, can you sense any chakra in the air? Focus your abilities up and over there because I'm seeing some abnormalities in the weather coming from there." Eagle startled Sogeki with the sudden change of tone in his voice as he pointed off to the southwest of their location. After a moment of looking at his friend, he sighed softly then closed his eyes. Sogeki had pulled back the large radius of his sensory abilities, losing the sensations of the village's chakra in his mind's eye. He then stretched them out as far and as high as he could reach them to the southwest. He could feel everything that was in that direction for miles. He felt every chakra signature of the residents, the natural chakra from the surroundings, but what he felt last made him weary. He felt an ominously powerful wave of mixed chakra pulsating towards the village in shock waves. There was chakra literally infused into the clouds above them.

"What the hell is that?" Sogeki was utterly stunned by this sensation of dense and clashing chakra washing over his very being. 'There's so many.. I can't even tell exactly how many there are. Judging by the fact that I had to focus to sense this, I'd say this must just be the after effects of whatever happened.' Sogeki thought to himself, his mind running through different thoughts and scenarios. The closest thing he could compare this to would be a series of streams all flooding out at once. "It feels like a war was happening out there. Can you see anything?" He asked his partner with just a slightly uneasy tone.

Eagle quickly focused his enhanced eyesight just as his partner did with his sensory abilities. The landscape zoomed past his vision in black in white; houses, trees, and the village walls flew past his gaze until it lead out to the forests on the outskirts of the village. Eagle sought out the cause of these chakra shock waves. After narrowing his eyes, and going beyond the range of his vision before it became straining, Eagle finally sighed and shook his head. "I can't see anything.." he said, deactivating his Byakugan. "But," he added, with a small sigh before standing back up along the branch and stepping over to fall onto the ground, "that doesn't mean that nothing is out there, it's just out of my range. Which means that the event happened at least over 10 kilometers out." Even though he was wearing his mask, Sogeki could tell he was frowning. "You're right, whatever it is, I haven't felt like this since the war."

Sogeki kept silent for a few moments at the mention of the war. Everyone was affected by the savage battles that managed to kill more shinobi than any of the past wars combined and it only lasted three days. Well, _almost_ everyone was affected... Sogeki himself was forbidden to join as he was too young at the time. He was placed under a seal by his clansmen for the entirety of the war to ensure his safety. "Come then, we'll have to explain this to the Hokage and await his orders. Our mission will have to be put on hold," Sogeki said with a sense of urgency to his partner. Without effort, he pushed himself over the side of the branch he had made his seat and fell back towards the ground next to Eagle. Despite being at least five years younger than his friend, Sogeki completely towered over him by at least a full head. Actually, Sogeki was possibly the tallest shinobi in all of ANBU as he stood at just under two meters in height.

"The Hokage is probably already asleep at this hour and his room is likely secured," Eagle had began to explain as he crossed his arms. He shook his head and frowned under his mask, believing that contacting the Hokage would take too long. Lord Kakashi always was a bit of a cautious sleeper in the rare event that he got any. "We can still try to wake him, but... we may have to go to one of the elders or our superiors on this instead."

Both Eagle and Sogeki had paused and thought about just who would be awake at this hour. Commander of the Torture and Interrogation division, Ibiki Morino, would had been a great choice, had they not known he was in the middle of a critical interrogation of a shinobi from Otogakure. Captain Yamato retired soon after his promotion to settle for getting his own Genin squad, apparently his time with the old Team Kakashi inspired him towards that path. Sogeki had a moment of mutual hope that Motoko would also retire soon and leave him be. She had been a member of ANBU since she was ten, though that didn't technically count because she and Sogeki had moved away from the village nearly thirteen years ago.

"Speaking of Commander Motoko..." Eagle muttered almost shamefully to his partner. His mask was unable to hide the lone sweat drop that plagued the side his cheek. "She is technically our superior..."

"Absolutely not, we aren't out of options just yet." Sogeki quickly said with a spiteful shake of his head. 'I'd rather go straight through the seals Lord Hokage has ANBU put up during his sleep.' He thought with a frown on his face that Eagle could see through the mask, even without his Byakugan active. "We'll go to the Hokage Mansion and see whoever is on duty, if no one of suitable rank is there, then we shall attempt to wake Lord Hokage. Being a captain, I could lead a squad to investigate but I do not have the authority to lead us _that_ far out of the village without orders from a superior."

"How about you go off to do that, I'll go to Commander Motoko. As difficult as she is to work with, she's one of the only people available and let's face it, we both know where she is right now. Besides, you didn't say it was an order, _Captain_." Eagle quickly said with an almost teasing tone to Sogeki before turning and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"..."

"..."

"..."

'That bastard disobeyed me... so what if it wasn't an official order!'

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The lounge of the ANBU brass members was decorated with two extended couches along opposite walls with hardwood coffee tables placed in front of each of them. The headquarters itself was almost completely abandoned. Only Motoko and a few others were left on duty at this late hour. The whole organization was becoming much more barren. The commanders and captains were now being selected out of skill and desperation rather than years of grooming and tests. It was surprising that the organization was still even in existence.

Over the years, the ANBU have been losing numbers from both Junior and Senior branches. Veterans retired after the war believing that they were no longer needed to protect the village like this. The many incidents where the ANBU were next to useless also influenced this. They instead left everything on the shoulders of the younger generation with the hope that they would rise to the role with vigor and better results. But that brings up the other branch...

The younger members left ANBU to enlist into the newly established Shinobi Alliance Police Force, to be apart of something they believed to actually be a competent organization. The public had nearly lost faith in ANBU as well. They felt that the organization could no longer keep them safe, and who could blame them? The attack from the Kyuubi and the failure to protect the Fourth. Fast forward a few years and the Uchiha were wiped out by the then ANBU legend, Itachi Uchiha. The sudden attack from Oto and Suna which resulted in the Chunin Exams being prematurely ended, and the assassination of the beloved Third at the hands of the former ANBU member and student of the Third, Orochimaru. The successful infiltration and escape of two Akatsuki members, one of which was - again - Itachi Uchiha. The assault by Akatsuki's leader that decimated the entire village, killed tens of thousands, and left the Fifth in a coma. These events were not prevented, were not handled, and were not stopped by the so called _elite_ ANBU. The everyday Shinobi barely trusted the organization years ago, but now they too felt it was becoming obsolete and incompetent. This constant ridicule by the populist and former members has left the ANBU down to only a few dozen, some of whom were only motivated by the stories of their silent, masked daggers and shields since their youth and actually believed that redemption **was** possible.

Yes, ANBU had seen better days.

"Okay, so.. do I still have to stay here if nothing happens these days? It's not like I get paid for being at the office, anyway." The incredibly tall woman, who laid down with her long limbs outstretched onto the couch closest to the door, said in a dry and unenthusiastic tone. She sported the standard trench coat of her occupation, similar to the one Ibiki Morino has worn for years but lacked an abundance of pockets. Under that she wore the standard black ANBU garb with a mesh v-neck. Her form was built with the perfect amount of toned muscle mass and rather generous feminine curves. Her ANBU mask was that of a dragon which rested on her lap, which revealed her dark gray eyes with long black hair that framed her soft face and reached to the nape of her neck. Her skin was fairly tanned; being a shade or two lighter than the Hero of Konoha. This woman would be called beautiful much more often if her personality wasn't so... _undesirable_. Upon first impressions, it would be hard to believe that this woman was one of the most powerful shinobi in the Elemental Nations who literally had an overwhelming aura of _not to be fucked with_.

Not too far from this woman were two captains mumbling among themselves, one of them giggled when the other whispered something in her ear. Both women had been taking turns whispering things into each others ears, usually about sexual adventures or even assassinations that required them to seduce their targets. With such slow, boring hours, they couldn't be blamed for trying to find some way of entertaining themselves. They had made it a game to see which one of them had the best, steamiest, stories and techniques. A moment later, they could feel two sets of eyes on them from across the room, which prompted them to both to laugh awkwardly and leave the room together. But not before mumbling something about the Hokage's body and how they would try to use their collective skills on him with a purr then more giggles.

"Is that all you can think about Motoko? You're in charge of the tracking and assassination divisions, surely there is some bastard out there for you to take out?" An older man with graying brown hair asked after lifting his coffee mug to his lips. 'To think she was made a commander...' He shivered at the thought and quickly took a long sip of the steaming drink. "Besides, do you even need the money, being the future leader of a clan and all? The Kamikura, no less." He added with a raised eyebrow as he noticed that Motoko was suddenly across the room and towering next to him with her trademark grin. 'Oh, shit...' He managed to gulp, his face already pale.

"Oh, Tiger..." She mumbled softly to where only they both could hear. Her grin grew when she felt his body twitch from just how close she was to him, and the tone she used when she spoke his code name. 'Always the fun jumpy one, haha... how to mess with him this time...' Motoko thought as she gently stroked her hand along his toned and experienced muscles.

'Okay, got it.' As soon as she decided on her course of action, she got into character by changing her somewhat soft expression to that of a more cold, distant one. She then lowered her chakra to a point where it would be next to impossible to detect.

"Haven't I told you that clan money and my money are two different things? I have to pay the bills for my best friend and occasional lover, unless..." Motoko's voice drifted to a light whisper and allowed her words to carry on. She wrapped her right arm over Tiger's shoulder and slowly crept even closer until he could feel her oddly cold breath against his neck. Despite her sensual tone and the near intimate way she held him there, her eyes couldn't seem more cold and distant which caused him to shiver. She stared through him with half closed eyelids and those dull gray eyes.

Tiger felt incredibly uncomfortable with her that close to his body let alone his neck. Her arm around his shoulder gave him a bit of insight on her strength. Even though her arm rested limply against him, he still felt the power that lied beneath the surface of her clothes. He could imagine that she would have no issue snapping his neck with just a whim before he could escape. That wasn't all. With her lips placed so close to his neck, he imagined her biting into his jugular then robbing him or doing whatever else it is she wanted. The only things that stopped him from taking this contact as an attempt on his life was the utter lack of killing intent in the air and the fear that he'd be crushed instantly.

"... unless you wanted to help me out with that, Commander of Defense Tiger. Or do you want her to go hungry, be homeless, and suddenly unable to pay tuition at Lady Tsunade's medical school?" Motoko finished before taking a sip of Tiger's coffee. He hadn't even noticed that she took it from him. "Do you?"

'Now I see why she joined ANBU... she's too scary to be in public.. Damn it, she's half my age and getting to me like this' Tiger thought before he decided to remove himself from her grasp and after he took his coffee back from her. He cleared his throat to distract himself from her giggles and childish pouting until she had developed a grin along her face. "Anyway, I see your point. I'll take care of Nadamara's rent for this month if you stay here. My daughters moved to Kumo anyway after the war, so I have more than I'll need and Nadamara is a good girl." The old ANBU said as he avoided eye contact with Motoko. "Happy?"

Motoko's mischievous grin had slowly faded back to a simple, soft smile. As much as she loved messing with Tiger - and, well everyone else - she was actually very fond of him. When she first became an ANBU - breaking Itachi Uchiha's record of being the youngest to ever join by mere weeks - he helped mentor her in their methods and principles. She didn't even mind that he couldn't remember her, she was gone from the village for many years and only just came back less than six years ago after all. She was a different person then; determined, enthusiastic, and she even had a different mask. Her smile had grown as warm as winter sunlight could get before it finally faded into her usual, bored expression.

"I'm content, yes. I'll be sure to inform her after my shift apparently." Motoko abandoned her little game when she felt him submit to her, she found no enjoyment when there was no challenge, friend or not. She never meant any harm to her friends through her games, enemies weren't so lucky. Sometimes it was just a means to teach her friends a lesson about being easy to trick or manipulate. Not lowering your guard and being more aware of your surroundings. Things of that nature.

The ends of Motoko's lips curved slightly as she headed towards the couch that she had marked as her territory. "Speaking of those two, how are they? I hear the damages to the Land of Lightning and Kumo are almost finished. I also heard that the memorial monument was decided on. _Shinobi_, right?"

"Yes, actually. The Gokage decided that the Shinobi Alliance Memorial should be the same as what the Samurai placed on our wartime forehead protectors; Shinobi. It has been built and placed on the battlefields in the Lightning Desert and where the final battles took place," Tiger stated as he turned to watch Motoko walk away and sighed in relief. After double checking that she was back on the couch, he took the final few sips of his coffee. "My daughters are doing well. The youngest had fallen in love during the war with a Kumo shinobi. He's a good, strong boy. Firm in his beliefs that this world will be better and they are even expecting a child soon. The oldest felt that it wasn't fair that most of the war had taken place in the Land of Lightning and even the land close to their village being destroyed by that.. _thing_." He paused as he thought about the nightmares he still experienced from that final battle that took the lives of many, including some that were close to him. The unholy scream, the vile stench of its chakra, and those terrifying tails.

Tiger was slowly being revisited by the horrors he saw during the war. The mangled, twisted bodies that were spread throughout the land like fallen chess pieces in a cascade of blood.

***Flashback***

The man known as Hageshi had rushed towards his allies through the jagged and torn earth. The entire alliance had decided to gather where the Hero of Konoha, and apparently the enemy leader had been facing off. However, once they arrived, they found an awesome and frightening sight before them. Some dreaded beast with giant serrated teeth now stared down the alliance. Hageshi himself was paralyzed at the first sight of the behemoth and its ten tails. The way it seemed to stare at everyone almost individually with that massive red eye it had, as if it could literally see each and everyone one-on-one rather than as a group. But that primal fear was eventually outweighed by the concern for his wife, Hitomi. Hageshi then swallowed the unease he felt and blocked out the horror until he found his reason for being and sanity.

As fast as his numbing legs could take him, Hageshi ran past Shinobi after Shinobi in his search. The pain and strain that he felt in his feet spiked up his very bones and pulsed like tremors causing him to wince. But no pain could stop him from finding her. The only sounds he could hear besides the thundering sound of his feet colliding with the ground were his own short, frantic breaths. His throat burned with each stride of his sprint, long since becoming immune to that strong taste of blood in his mouth. "Hold on, dear! I'm coming as fast as I can!" He yelled out as he drew closer to the rest of his fellow Shinobi. Luckily, his wife knew where her husband was approaching from because she was gifted with her sensory abilities from years of work in the ANBU.

"I'm here, Hageshi!" She called out to him as she attempted to wave her right hand up high enough for him to see. His wife stood there strong with a smile on her pale, flushed, and sweaty face. Bloody and bruised, she still somehow managed to be the most beautiful sight Hageshi had seen during the entire war. Her injuries did concern him though. Her long purple hair had been matted along the back of her head and implied that she may had been bleeding there before a medic healed and bandaged her up. Her left arm laid limp at her side with her usually long black sleeve torn just above her bruised bicep. She was also missing her Konoha flak jacket and where it was once located were now shreds with numerous scorch marks in her black turtleneck.

As soon as he made it to her, she quickly leaned into his arms and placed her lips against his to give him a kiss. Hageshi didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her as tightly as he could without hurting her. After exchanging their kiss, Hageshi could feel Hitomi begin to shiver in his grip. "Hitomi, are you alright? I heard about what happened to your division." Hageshi had thought about throwing her over his shoulder, finding his daughters, and deserting when he could hear Inochi's plans being sent to him and everyone else. There was no hope against something like that, and fighting it could take away his most precious people far sooner than it would if he ran with them. He then watched in awe as the entire shinobi force launched themselves at that beast with hope in their hearts and fire in their blood. He himself had suddenly felt the urge of assisting them with his wind element, but that changed when he felt Hitomi try to pull away and join them, '**NO!**' he nearly screamed to himself with determination as he cast away Inochi's influence in his mind then pulled her back against his chest.

Back to safety.

She felt absolutely torn and destroyed as she watched everyone give their all to fight while she was being held back. With a heavy heart, she turned her attention back towards her husband and nearly choked to speak. Hitomi was unable to utter a word until she realized and understood what he was doing. Why would he try to save the world when his world was already in his arms? It made sense to her and she felt the same about him. But the seeds to help were still planted in her mind. "Y-Yes, Hageshi.., we were attacked by the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri, but thankfully Guy and the others were there to help while Kakashi was busy. I am fine, but I was worried about you and the girls. Fortunately they both are offering medical support and treated my wounds," Hitomi said with an unwavering smile as she looked up at her husband with her warm hazel eyes. "Hehe, they couldn't fix my arm, though. But never mind that. You don't seem to be too hurt, but I want you to go get checked out while you still have time." She tried to tease and make her condition seem less critical than it actually was. The truth was that she wanted to fight. Fight to protect her world, even if it would lead to her being killed. Her world was currently holding her and wouldn't let go. She didn't want him to let go. But the seeds in her mind were beginning to blossom the longer she stood there. She knew what he was thinking, he wanted to run away with her. 'I can't run, that's the last thing I will do, my love... if we run, and somehow the war is won... how could we live with ourselves? Would we be able to look each other in the eye and say the lives we clung for today were the right ones? We would be breaking the bonds that we have to our village and friends... I can't run...' Hitomi had decided, her eyes now filled with the belief that though she may die, it was a choice worth dying for.

'I won't run.'

"No, I'm fine how I am. I'm glad they're safe, but I will be right next to you to protect you. Even if you're stronger than I am, you're not in fighting shape." Hageshi stated as he turned his head towards the nightmare that stared before them, watching as it morphed into a lankly form with a single ear, long, thin limbs, and a colossal bud on its back. With a ghostly howl, the beast began to stand up even higher, it's head now towering high above the alliance as it began to charge an immense ball of dense black chakra before firing it out into the night sky. The next thing Hageshi felt was the very earth itself tremble and shake from the blast radius that made even mountains seem like insignificant blades of grass. He had nearly squeezed Hitomi in utter fear and froze up just long enough for her to make her escape. With her chakra charged into her strides, she dashed towards the rest of the alliance in joint battle cry.

Hageshi was overcome with an overwhelming sense of fear. The second she slipped from his hand he felt cold, as if the sun itself had been swallowed up. He could only extend his hand out in a failed attempt to stop his wife. He couldn't even scream out in protest or plea for her to return to him. Only an unintelligible gasp for air escaped his lips. He couldn't follow her no matter how hard he wanted to mentally, his body simply would not move any closer towards the Juubi. He could only watch as his world got further and further away from him and closer to what he considered to be the end of it.

Everything grew dark and muffled besides each heartbeat in Hageshi's chest. He couldn't hear anything properly but the sounds the beast made as it howled and lifted all ten of its hand-like tails above its head. He could only see his wife running on nothingness and towards the godless sight of the Juubi.

_"WOOD STYLE: CUTTING JUTSU!"_

***End Flashback***

Tiger had been clinching at the side of the counter for the past few moments, his breathing shallow and his nails had dug into the wood. Being revisited by such nightmares turned him bitter and a bit depressed. Every time he thought about that day he asked himself what could he had done to help, what could he had done to actually change what happened. And each time he thought about that, he realized that his mask was a constant mistake of choice. It was ironic. 'Tiger.. I... don't deserve this role in the ANBU when I was nothing but a coward back then. I was not brave, and I was not fierce.' He thought for another few seconds about just what creature could had described his past nature until he suddenly found the other ironic thing about his role in ANBU as the Commander of Homeland Security.

'I was more like a turtle than a tiger. When I was faced with the choice of fighting or running away; I did neither, and instead crumpled back into my shell. And now I am the Commander of the ANBU Homeland Security...' He quite literally placed every mental bet on the ANBU falling apart.

Tiger lifted his head up from his 'shell' and stared at the oblong reflection of himself he could see on the clock directly over him. He studied his reflection slowly, muttering words at the things he didn't like or the other ironic things about himself. What he saw wasn't the young knucklehead of a man with the burning passion to protect his precious people he used to be. He couldn't see himself as the father of two beautiful daughters and the husband to an ANBU legend. He couldn't even see Hageshi the man. All he could see was a small, cowardly turtle that was slowly retreating back into its shell, abandoning the warmth and fresh air. His shell was made up of all of his hate, stress, fear, and bitterness; all leaving a layer until it created the ultimate defense.

And the ultimate grave for him to die from the inside.

Or so he thought.

Motoko - who had been watching Tiger for the past few minutes, first out of boredom but now out of a small sliver of pity - stepped forward and placed her hand on his shoulder. Surprisingly, Tiger didn't even acknowledge the contact by showing unease or even the desire to defend himself. He simply stared forward, at the clock. After a few moments, Motoko actually tried to 'comfort' him by snapping him out of his trance. She slowly began to flood his body with her incredibly cold and dense chakra.

Tiger's breathing began to spike again as he felt the air around his shell begin to grow colder. It felt as if someone had made it through each layer of his shell and placed an incredibly uncomfortable hand on his shoulder. Being the coldblooded turtle that he was; Tiger found himself to be particularly partial to overcoming such a change in climate. Tiger had felt this sensation before but never at such intense levels. He was absolutely freezing inside of his shell until it became unbearable. He needed warmth. He needed to leave his shell, at least for now.

When he finally slipped out of his state of stupor, he found himself back in the ANBU lounge area and with the hand of the last person he'd expect on his shoulder. With a bitter grumble, he reached his right hand over to brush hers off, but this prompted her to tighten her grip and send a whole new wave of chilling chakra through his body. Tiger couldn't help but shiver and wince from the painful grip she had on him, despite it numbing his body at the same time. "You know that hurts, right?..."

'Then you should look me in the face when I'm talking to you' Motoko thought with a sarcastic tone, despite never saying anything to him. When she felt Tiger growing more upset with another failed attempt to remove her hand - which ended the same way it had the first five times - she couldn't help but smirk at it. 'Good, I don't know what's gotten into him but he needs this distraction, and luckily pain has no equal in that regard.'

After about the twelfth failed attempt, he was fuming mad. No, he was utterly pissed! He tried a few more times to remove her hand as peaceful as he could manage, and each time he was met with crushing resistance. Finally, he snapped and tossed her hand away without a single care towards if she became hostile or not. He was in no mood to be bothered by someone who didn't even take her job seriously. He gripped his shoulder and winced lightly. 'What the hell is she made of?' Tiger thought before he turned his gaze over towards her, meeting her cold gray eyes once again.

Motoko simply stared at her much older peer with her dull, distant expression. Her body was completely relaxed and showed no signs of anger, despite the way Tiger aggressively tossed her away. With each impossibly slow blink, she continued to study him. 'That makes this the third time in the past few weeks... He seems to be suffering from some sort of Post-trauma, probably from the war. He's definitely not the man he used to be, so it must had happened between when I left the village and my return.' She continued to blink slowly at him in silence until she finally decided to speak. "You were talking about your daughters." In truth, she was a little glad to see him showing just some emotion instead of his perpetual melancholy. Even if it was anger.

'Oh! That's right.' Tiger thought as he turned back towards Motoko and glanced at her. He was still getting used to the way she stood over him even when she was relaxing. In fact, besides her younger brother and Ibiki, she was the tallest ANBU standing at above 6'2" or 188 cm. 'She's also made out of some type of steel or something.' Tiger added as he could still feel the pain from when she had been gripping him.

"I'm incredibly happy for them both, though I feel old when I think about being a grandfather already." Tiger, or rather Hageshi, said with a small chuckle at the end. 'I'm still a shinobi, after all.' "Honestly, I don't think I'll retire anytime soon. My father served with Lord Second and I served with Lord Third, so I guess I can still help the village."

"No one ever said you were old, Tiger. Besides, there are a lot women out there that like older men. I'm sure I could find you one or even a harem of young ladies." She chuckled and gave him a pat on the back - something that alarmed him once again because she was all the way across the room not even a second ago. "I'm sure the Mizukage would just eat a manly, experienced, and powerful guy like you up!"

Motoko couldn't help but grin as she leaned in closer over his shoulder, giving him a nudge in the arm with her elbow. "Or are you more into older women, like Lady Tsunade? I'm pretty sure she has just as long as a dry spell, she could definitely use some Tiger in her _diet_."

"I -" Tiger paused as he looked over at Motoko's softening, yet somehow smug expression and just decided to change the subject. "Anyway... the wedding was a few months ago. The Raikage was the best man. Apparently, my new son-in-law turned out to be the commander of my division during the war, Darui. It was a bit awkward considering -"

Suddenly, both Motoko and Tiger turned their attention to the door just in time for the knob to turn. Once it opened, Eagle had casually stepped in and looked at Motoko for the total time of a millisecond before snapping his head over towards Tiger. 'Great, Commander Tiger is here. Perhaps I can get him to authorize the mobilization of a squad to investigate this event.'

As soon as Eagle came into view, Motoko's face nearly contorted into a grin so intense that it could be felt both men. "Oh, hello there big guy." She said as she prepared a number of the most complex machinations of games and tricks she could perform on Eagle - who was easily one of her favorite people to mess with, probably because he kept coming back despite the occasional humiliation.

Eagle visibly flinched when he saw her suddenly appear in front of him with that frightening look on her face and speed he couldn't even track. 'There she goes again, I couldn't even see her move. Whoever said with great power comes great responsibility obviously never met this woman and needs a punch to the face.' Tiger couldn't help but sigh as he shook his head. "Commander, leave the poor boy alone. Haven't you done enough to him during your Shogi gambling ring last week?"

To both of their surprise, Motoko actually stopped. She then pouted and walked back over to her couch. "No fun when others are around anyway..."

'THANK YOU SO MUCH, COMMANDER TIGER!' Inner Eagle nearly teared up and hugged Tiger for saving his life from the vile and twisted things Motoko had planned for him. But Eagle quickly took control of his inner self and cleared his throat. He knew he had to act somewhat like a professional, especially with the ANBU evaluation exams coming up soon. Besides, he needed to think before he could explain what he and Sogeki had concluded.

"Hello, Commanders Tiger and Dragon. We may have a problem."

.

.

Sogeki simply couldn't believe his luck. Of the twelve members of ANBU stationed at the Hokage's tower at all times, he either matched or exceeded them in rank. His only alternative was to wake the Hokage.

With a sigh of annoyance, Sogeki quickly made his way towards the Hokage's residence in the tower. This residence was first instituted by Tobirama Senju, before he was Hokage. He had set it up during the First's reign where it was intended for a place of rest after a long day of work and for quick access back to the office in the morning.

His brother, Hashirama, apparently, used it for a place to rest after a hangover or to hide from his wife and brother when he did something childish. Lord Second used it as his complete residence during his reign, allowing him to quickly go back to work in the morning. Lord Third used it during the first few weeks following the death of Lady Biwako Sarutobi, his wife. Apparently staying home was too much of a toll for him after his loss. Lord Fourth actually never used it. And Lady Fifth also used it to rest during a hangover - likely something she picked up from her grandfather, and when she would ignore the work she deemed annoying - which was usually things directly from the Fire Daimyo's office.

When Kakashi Hatake became Hokage, he followed the footsteps of Tobirama and made this his permanent home, on the off chance he slept. He, however, had the room converted from a simple huge room with a large bed to more of a 'man cave'. He had the room outfitted with a library of personally signed, first edition, unabridged collector's edition of every Icha-Icha and Ero-Ero novel - which included the unfinished final book and the drafts for each book. The unpublished Autobiography of the Mountain Toad Sage. A large soft bed. And finally a desk where he could write. In his spare time, Kakashi would work on his own Icha-Icha fanfiction novel titled ICHA-ICHA LEGACY: Paradise Rebirth! Which was his own remake of the Icha-Icha series, not for the sake of diminishing the originals, but was meant for the true fans of the original as well as a start of a new generation for those new to the series. And closet perverts everywhere!

But for now, the book was being kept at - literally - an S-Rank secret that no one, not even the ANBU, was allowed to see. Kakashi actually had tried to have it placed into the Hokage archives, but the Elders found that to be the only ridiculous thing he had ever requested in his six years as Kage and declined.

As Sogeki made his way around the corner of the long corridor, he found himself face to face with the first of many seals. This particular seal was a more complex version of the barrier around the village used to detect everyone that enters the walls. Because the scale of this particular seal was vastly smaller than the other, it allowed easy modification and an increase to efficiency. The biggest difference is the fact that this barrier seal was just that; literally an invisible barrier that prevents all unauthorized access and an agonizing shock for those that tried. Luckily, Sogeki, as an ANBU captain, knew how to pass through this seal.

It didn't take very long for Sogeki to weave through the proper handsigns for the key to appear along the fingertips of both of his hands with a flame like purple glow. Once he had the keys, he lifted his hands out before him and stepped forward until he made contact with the barrier. Upon contact, the barrier shimmered into view and allowed him to see the chakra lettering that made up the seals. Sogeki slowly moved his hands over these seals and turned them clockwise with his chakra keys before they finally disappeared.

With the first seal gone, Sogeki simply sighed and thought about just how much easier that would had been if Eagle were there. With his Byakugan, he would had been able to see exactly where his hands needed to go without the need for the complicated jutsu to create the keys. "I hope Motoko gets him..." Sogeki absently said aloud as he made it down the hall and to the next seal.

This seal was much like the first except it was visible to the human eye. It was a lightning based seal that would paralyze the intruder with a simple detection seal written around it that would alert the Hokage. The way around this seal was almost too shameful to be considered logical. Sogeki let out ANOTHER silent sigh as he ducked down beneath the seal and moved on.

The reason behind the seal being visible was meant to keep the intruder there long enough for the Genjutsu seal hidden beneath the floor to activate. That seal was on a timer the moment it detects someone near and is charged with their chakra. Once the Genjutsu sets in, it would cause those caught to walk forward and into the lightning seal, become paralyzed, and inform the Hokage of the threat. Crude, but would definitely work against anyone that tried to deactivate the seals.

The NEXT seal was a chakra seal that would slowly and subtly lock the chakra from at least 64 or so of the 361 tenketsu in the body, eventually rendering any intruder without the means to defend themselves from what was next. Sogeki quickly walked past the range of the chakra seal and casually hopped over the hidden explosive tags all over the next few dozen feet - something that originally raised the question of just how long this hallway actually was, but Sogeki has learned to ignore that after his second time doing this run for the sake of sanity.

Seal after seal, trap after trap, and at least a few hundred feet later. Sogeki FINALLY made it through the ninth seal and currently stood before the humble door to the Hokage's hidden home. 'Damn you, Eagle. Damn you, Eagle. Damn you, Eagle.' He thought to himself as he began spiking his chakra into a pattern that the ANBU used to communicate without speaking to each other. It was undetectable to anyone but ANBU because instead of releasing chakra that only a sensor could read, it used the tattoos the ANBU had on their left arms as a link that only they shared. It was, much like everything practical in Konoha, developed by Tobirama Senju when he established the organization.

It is to be used like a beacon, but is meant to be used for those who can't contact each other through normal means. If members of a squad were far out of each other's verbal and visual ranges, they could communicate if captured to each other and tell where enemies were. Of course, the wireless headsets that the normal Shinobi forces used weren't invented in Tobirama's day, which is why this was used at all.

**\- .- -.- / .. / -.-. - - . / .. -. ..-..** was the code he sent with his chakra. It simply meant _"May I come in?"_ Sogeki didn't have to worry about Kakashi not knowing just who sent the signals because only an ANBU could make it through all of those seals undetected and know to use Morse Code with their chakra.

After a few moments of no response, Sogeki could hear the sound of weight shifting in a seat and a small sigh. He then heard footsteps leading directly to the other side of the door before he could hear the distinct smack a book makes when it is closing. Finally the door opened to reveal the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, who had been wearing his standard flak jacket but with his Kage hat tied around his shoulder and a Icha-Icha novel in his hand.

"So, are you here for the book signing or did the village blow up? Because those are really the only two reasons that I should ever be woken up." Kakashi spoke with a light chuckle at the end. He knew it couldn't be anything too seriously happening because he would had felt it, and he had also scanned Sogeki's body language.

The past six years without his Sharingan have been a bit troublesome, he had become so used to having it there. Adapting without his Sharingan was much harder than when he first received it from Obito, all those years ago. One large difference, he noticed, was his chakra reserves. He knew that Obito's Sharingan was draining him constantly, but he hadn't realized that it had drained him THAT MUCH. His chakra had nearly doubled. Tsunade had stated that it was if he had an increasingly heavy weight over his body for _two decades_ and had finally taken it off.

That comparison was accurate, because the first few weeks of his recovery were filled with him feeling much like Guy would after running a marathon through the Land of Wind's Great Desert with only his hands. Another difference he noticed was his inability to pick up on the smallest abnormalities in someone's behavior. The subtle quirks. He didn't like that change at all, especially given his paranoia. That was one of the reasons he had so many seals set in place.

Sogeki knew better than to call his Hokage a liar, because he obviously was not asleep, but the urge was still there. He simply kept silent long enough for Kakashi to feel a tiny bit awkward. He found it ironic to be slightly unnerved by the very masks he once wore himself. "I'll let you in on a secret, those masks have always made me uneasy ever since I lost my Sharingan. It makes the ANBU hard to read, and you're almost as silent as I am, which makes it worse." Kakashi broke the silence as he looked up at Sogeki.

"Sorry, Lord Hokage." Sogeki didn't hesitate to lower his hood and take off his mask. Much like his sister, Sogeki had shoulder length black hair, though his was swept back slightly and spiked at the ends. He did have the same dull dark gray eyes, however. He had no problem taking off his mask to Kakashi for a number of reasons, the most obvious reason was that Kakashi knew what every ANBU member looked like already. "Lord Hokage, we may have a problem outside of the village."

"At approximately zero-three hundred hours, my partner and I noticed the after effects of some sort of event. I detected a vast number of chakra signatures coming from-" Sogeki's ears suddenly twitched - a trait he picked up from his much older cousin, Ryuko, whenever he detected chakra - and he turned his gaze towards the door. He felt two incredibly strong chakra signatures appear almost out of nowhere just down the corridor.

_"N-Naruto, please wait a moment!"_

_"What's wrong, Hinata? You already took down the seal, right?"_

_"Yes, but-"_

_"Then let's go, we need to see Kakashi quickly!"_

_"But - wait, Naruto, there may be more traps!"_

Both Kakashi and Sogeki slowly raised their eyebrows as they looked towards the door. Sogeki didn't recognize them by their voices, but he had known both them by their names. The Hero, Naruto Uzumaki, and his fiance - who was Sogeki's distant relative on his mother's side - Hinata Hyuga. Kakashi couldn't help but sigh when he heard Naruto's footsteps getting closer down the hall. "Ten, nine, eight"

Sogeki turned back towards Kakashi and tilted his head ever so slightly to the side. "What are-" He began but was quickly interrupted by Kakashi - who lifted his index finger to quiet him down. 'Okay...'

"Wait for it." Kakashi added as he turned around and went back behind his desk to have a seat. Once he was seated, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'This is going to be a long day, isn't it?' He'd say that all the stress would make his hair turn grey, but that joke would be in bad taste. "Three, two, and..."

_"NARUTO, STOP!"_ Sogeki could hear Hinata call out before the hallway was filled with the gurgling sounds and screams of someone being electrocuted. A split second later, a vibrating alarm went off on the Hokage's desk but was quickly silenced by Kakashi. The scent of something burning filled Sogeki's nose and he suddenly realized just what had happened.

Naruto, the Hero of not just the village, but the entire world, just ran right into the second seal and was currently screaming in pain while lightning surged through every part his body.

Kakashi sighed and placed his forehead against his desk while he ran his fingers over his temples. "And people thought that he should had been made Hokage right after the war..."

A few moments later the screaming had stopped and Sogeki wondered what had happened now. It wasn't until he heard the strained gasps of air from Naruto that he concluded the seal was somehow deactivated. 'But only a few are able to disarm those seals when activated. I guess that's to be expected from Naruto.'

_"Shut up, Kurama! That wasn't funny!"_ Naruto yelled out as he coughed.

_"I tried to tell you..."_ Hinata said in a bit of a strained voice, as if she was failing to hold back a giggle. Kakashi could only imagine the scene in his head: Naruto shaking his fist in the air at the proverbial Kurama while Hinata held her hand to her chest and was biting her lower lip.

"Anyway, while all of..." - Kakashi paused as he pointed towards the door - "that... is happening, how about you tell me how you and your family have been since returning to the village?"

Sogeki was nearly baffled. Here he came to the Hokage in the dead of night with details of a possible event outside the village and now he's to talk about personal things such as family? "Um... Lord Hokage? Wouldn't this time be better used to explain-"

"If you knew Naruto, you'd know he's going to be jumping off of the walls when he gets in here, and I don't think I can tell him the story if he's asking me a question every five seconds. So, you'll just explain everything to the four of us when they both get here." Kakashi stated with a chuckle at the end.

"Besides, your sister once served under my squad, Team Rho, in ANBU before taking over Itachi Uchiha's old squad when she became a captain. So as you can imagine, I am curious to see how she and her family are doing."

_"NARUTO, DON'T STEP THERE!"_ Hinata's voice echoed through the halls just in time for an explosion to rumble the residential area of the Hokage's safe house.

After a few moments, Naruto's trademark chuckle could be heard. _"See, Hinata! That wasn't so bad!"_

_"But, um... your leg... is..."_ Both Kakashi and Sogeki could smell something burning once again but this time the stench was much stronger. Almost as if someone was... _"..on fire..."_ Hinata finished.

_"HOLY SHIT!"_ Naruto could be heard kicking around frantically and yelling at the top of his rather impressive lungs.

"ANYWAY, you weren't in ANBU back then. Actually, I think I remember her saying that you were just entering the Academy around that time... six years old." Kakashi continued, hoping to pull attention back towards their conversation.

Hero or not, Sogeki was beginning to worry for Naruto's safety... and his competency. Though he was impressed by Naruto's durability. But Kakashi seemed not to be worried so that should be enough.

"Yes, I was six years old when we left. I never graduated from the Academy. But, thankfully, I still trained with my clan after my departure. When we returned, my grandfather had me register and test to become a Genin before the first Shinobi Alliance Chunin Exams."

"I'm almost nineteen now, in case you were wondering"

"Oh, yes. I remember that one. The Kazekage was the one to suggest a unified Chunin exams after the war, to further cement the alliance's future." Kakashi added as he leaned back in his chair. "Those were incredibly intense, worse than any other exams before it."

"What made it like that was, ironically enough, the state of peace and prosperity the alliance had after the war. Everyone was motivated to become stronger, especially the academy students and Genin, which began an almost savage training period in all villages." Kakashi chuckled and crossed his arms while he sat back and thought about those days.

"Even us Kage went back to training, something many of us haven't done in years. Accomplishing one's goals tend to leave them in a state of complacency." Kakashi couldn't help but think about how euphoric Guy was during that time. He even went on to become a Taijutsu coach at the Konoha Academy, despite becoming crippled at the loss of his foot.

'MY SPRING TIME OF YOUTH MAY HAVE TURNED INTO FALL, BUT A NEW SPRING IS BREWING IN THE WINDS OF TOMORROW, KAKASHI!' Was what Guy yelled in his old rival's ear when he was seeking permission to coach.

"Yes, sir. By the time I had made it back to the village, the new Allied Chunin Exams were starting on Faraway Island in the Untamed Isles." Sogeki added as he was also swept away in his memories. Were it not for the occasionally yell and explosion in the background, he would had definitely slipped into memories of him training with his father.

"I thought that the Raikage was insane when he recommended the Isles. Some people died just scouting out the place. Ruins, tribals, and absolutely terrible terrain that make the Forest of Death and Suna's Demon Desert look like nurseries. All these things made the perfect challenge for a '_new breed of Shinobi_' to him. So the Gokage council voted, and we agreed on Faraway Island to be the home of the exams."

'Now I know who to blame for the countless near death experiences I had.' Sogeki shuddered at the thought of how the squad he was placed with had decided to rest in an oasis, only for it to be the dwelling of exotic and carnivorous flowers. Later, they found what they believed to be a cave just for it to be the mouth of a gigantic chakra consuming creature - with wings! Sogeki barely managed to pass and become a Chunin. In the end, he and his team had to go three versus three against a Kumo team. 'Fuck that place.'

"If you're anything like your sister, I'm sure you enjoyed the challenge." Kakashi said with another small chuckle at the end of his words.

'No, fuck that pace.'

He had read reports on Motoko's behavior for whenever she was on a mission in or near one of the Great Villages. She would always make a detour to the most renown or powerful shinobi she could find just to challenge them to a '_friendly spar_'. The action actually reminded him of Guy and Rock Lee. "Which reminds me, you never said how she and your family were doing. I'd ask them myself, but all of these meetings are killing my free time."

**'No, seriously, fuck that place.'**

"Well... it's a bit complicated, actually." Sogeki began to say before pausing at the sudden chakra spike coming from Hinata down the corridor. "As you may know, Motoko has changed a bit since we left the village. I'm not sure what happened, but she has definitely lost a few screws." He added, attempting to hide the undertones of spite in his words.

Kakashi could only somewhat agree with that statement. Yes, Motoko had changed from the girl he knew, who was so dedicated to her work and a determination that reminded him of Obito. Yes, her proud, selfless personality had changed to a slightly selfish and a... mischievous one. But she hadn't changed much when it came to mission efficiency and the way she acted to those she respected. The list just happened to have become much more exclusive.

Her skills did not just improve, they downright soared. After all these years, she still rivaled his skills. 'Though she's likely surpassed me because of her endless drive to train with those gravity weights, where as I haven't had the time in a couple of years. And she has constant spars against shinobi like Killer Bee and Rock Lee whenever she's off duty.' Kakashi was actually surprised she hasn't challenged Naruto or tracked Sasuke down to challenge him yet.

'Wait, why hasn't she challenged me yet? Does she think I'm not in her league anymore? I was her captain once and now I'm her Hokage.' Kakashi was a little offended, but maybe she had her reasons. She wasn't a spiteful person. In fact, the only thing he found incredibly annoying was the constant questions she asked about his personal life, his mask, and when he planned on putting down his novels long enough to end the _'dry spell plaguing his crops.'_

Kakashi needed to change the subject before he accidentally sent Motoko on a very long, very distant mission. Probably to clean up the Untamed Isles. Screw hurting his pride, that wasn't important. She was guilty of the ultimate transgression and treason; she called them novels. 'THEY ARE MASTERPEICES, TRUE WORKS OF ART.' Kakashi thought as somehow sparkles appeared by his bookshelf along with an eerie glow. The fabled Passion of Perverts was in full swing while Sogeki attempted to ignore the sparkling and glowing of the books.

"-My family is a little strained over who will be the next heir, my father is getting older and my grandfather is pressuring me-" Sogeki had apparently continued on with his answer, managed to pull Kakashi back to reality and out of his own, apparently sparkling, one.

"Wait, your grandfather is pressuring you? Isn't your father around Lord Third's age? Just how old is your grandfather!?"

"Yes, my father was a friend of the First's, meaning he is at least a few years older than Lord Hiruzen, though not by much." Sogeki paused again when he saw Kakashi's expression change to one of astonishment. Sogeki had seen this expression far too many times to be surprised so he simply geared himself for the next question.

"That's amazing, I hope I still look like that at that age. But that covers your father..." Both Kakashi and Sogeki paused when they felt a presence just outside of the door. "Odd, there is no way Naruto could make that run that quickly..." Sogeki shivered and prayed that it wasn't his grandfather. He was already afraid of the man, but if Ryuken had managed to track him down there after simply speaking of his name, Sogeki would no longer consider the man human.

_"Um.. would someone kindly open this door? My hands are full..."_ Hinata's soft voice could be heard just on the other side of the door. _"...and there are no handles..."_

Sogeki couldn't tell if he was more shocked or relieved to know that it was the Hyuga heiress outside the door instead of his grandfather. 'How did they get here so quickly?' He thought to himself with a frown. 'That run would take at least eighteen minutes to an ANBU.' His pride was a bit hurt that someone outside of ANBU could manage to get passed the seals in such a time.

Kakashi sat in his chair with yet another expression of utter astonishment plastered on his face. He wasn't sure if he should be proud that Naruto, his student, had managed to make it through his seals. Or if he should be ashamed that Naruto, his student, had managed to get through _his_ seals. There just had to be a trick to it.

_"Please...?"_

It wasn't until Sogeki turned back towards Kakashi that he finally got out of his seat. With the slightest sigh of annoyance, he made his way around his desk and over towards the door. "So, how old is your grandfather...? He asked the young ANBU Captain as he passed him, asking almost entirely on principle. Both Sogeki and Kakashi had been interrupted and distracted each time they made small talk. Might as well finish while they had the privacy.

Sogeki thought about the question before answering with his true answer, which was he didn't know. Ryuken has definitely, and defiantly, lived for a very, very long time. Before the founding of the Shinobi Villages and during the latter years of the fall of the Samurai and Old Land of Iron - the Old Land of Iron encompassed almost all of the Lands of Earth, Ice, Frost and many other lands during the Warring States Era over one hundred years ago.

He knew, by his grandfather's account, that Ryuken was at least twelve years older than the village's founders; Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Ryuken claimed to had met them as teens on many battlefields when he was a warrior himself or searching for someone named _Yachiru_. He has had dozens of names; The Immortal Ryuken, Dragon Sage, single stroke World-breaker, Ronin of the West, and The Adamant Dragon God of Cremation were just a few examples - though Sogeki has only ever heard Ryuken himself say the last name. And he said it with pride.

Honestly, Sogeki has heard many, many people call him these names out west near the Land of Earth. Many of them claimed to had been there during Ryuken's many exploits. However, they were so elderly that they seemed like they'd die if asked to take a breath. So maybe they all could be senile together and just telling tales of their youth to others, or all of it **really** happened. Sogeki just doesn't believe his grandfather could split mountains with a single stroke, topple nations like Shogi pieces, and was a rival to many incredible legends such as Sasuke Sarutobi, the hero known as Ieyasu Tokugawa, and the powerful Oda clan.

_"Lord Hokage?"_

_"H-hey, Kakashi-sensei! Open up!"_ Naruto's voice sounded strained as he shouted, almost as if he were struggling with an injury. Or twenty. _"J-just because... you made Hokage.. doesn't mean you can ignore me... you're probably just reading one of those damn books!"_ Naruto paused as if he suddenly couldn't breath.

'Calling them books is even worse than calling them novels.' Kakashi almost had a tear form in his eyes as his student, the student of Jiraya, and the inheritor of the Icha-Icha royalties, would still undermine such works of art. 'Treason. He's guilty of treason!'

_"Naruto, please calm down. You haven't healed yet and I think that green liquid may be getting into the cuts."_ The lavender eyed voice of reason spoke, obviously trying to calm down her fiance.

_"When I'm Hokage, I'm throwing all of your crap in there out!"_ He paused with a grunt before taking a breath. _"And you better believe it!"_

'Crap? Now he's calling them **CRAP**? To the Untamed Lands with him!' Kakashi was interrupted from his plans of Inquisition against Motoko and Naruto by Naruto kicking the door repeatedly.

"Just hold on a minute, Naruto." Kakashi called out loud enough for them to hear, but not enough to be yelling it. "I'm having an important meeting."

_"WHAT!? WE'VE BEEN HERE ALMOST ALL NIGHT!"_

Both Kakashi and Sogeki let out barely audible sighs before Kakashi turned his head back towards Sogeki. He knew he should probably open his door already, especially sense he'd been standing there for a minute or two, but there was something about egging on Naruto that reminded him of his youth with Obito and again with Team 7. "Judging from your expression, I'd say you were trying to guess your grandfather's age. Meaning you don't actually know it."

"You're right, as always. I don't know very much about him, at least nothing I consider facts. I just know that he was born during the Warring States Era as a very young Samurai for the Old Land of Iron but became a Ronin when the Daimyo died. After that, all I have are his stories and the accounts of others about him traveling around and later being crucial in the founding of our clan's most resent reconstruction and building alliances."

Kakashi chuckled and smiled under his mask. 'I can understand from the stories I've heard from Lord Third, Tsunade, and even sensei, that this Lord Ryuken is a man of many deeds and a long life. Though I had hoped to get an answer from someone on his age... and why the man refused to assist in the war six years ago. The answer I got last time left a sour taste in my mouth.' Kakashi then let out a sigh and finally placed his hand on the door handle. Slowly he prepared himself for the guaranteed earful he'd receive for his actions.

"Alright, Nar-"

Kakashi was rarely one to outright laugh, but his resolve was tested by what stood before him. His sudden paused had caught Sogeki's attention and made him very curious. When he took a step towards the door, he leaned his body to the side so he could see over Kakashi.

In the door way stood Hinata Hyuga in a plain cream colored jacket, similar to the one she wore in her academy days but much more form fitting and lacked a hood. Her hair had grown longer and now reached her lower back, with her bangs extending past her chest. Since Sogeki had never met her in person, he would not notice her much more mature frame and slightly taller stature. What he did notice, however, was what Kakashi was staring at.

Hinata had an injured, barely coherent, and fuming Naruto Uzumaki slumped over her right shoulder. His right arm was limp with a shredded sleeve and lacerations, bruises, and what seemed like an infection in his skin. Actually, his entire right side was completely limp judging from way all of his weight was shifted onto Hinata. Sogeki soon found the cause of this; various six inched senbon were currently sticking out from his shoulder, lower back, thigh, and calf - all of them on his right, limp side.

"W-what the hell, Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto began to yell but stopped just in time to end the coming slurring of his words. It was very obvious to both Kakashi and Sogeki that the toxins must had made it up to the right side of his head because he suddenly found the floor to be the most fascinating thing judging from the way his right eye rolled back then down despite his left eye remaining aimed at Kakashi. " Holy shit! Hinata, is my eye okay?" He frantically asked Hinata as he tried to turn his head towards her.

When he saw her gasp in shock, he quickly - at least as quickly as he could at the moment - turned his attention back towards the Hokage. "GUHHHH! You could had killed me!"

"You may want to stop moving, those senbon are-" Kakashi said with one of his iconic dull smiles that he knew egged Naruto on.

"Don't you g-goooo a-and change the sssss-subject..."

"Um... He's not, Naruto. Those toxic senbon are affected by your movements, please stop fidgeting around for a moment, please." Hinata tried to calm down her fiance by placing her only free hand on his chest.

"What, you're defending him now, Hinata?"

Sogeki attempted to hide his thoughts, to stop them from coming out. He was baffled, confused, and disappointed all at once. 'This... is the Hero?' The very thought of such vast power being inside of Naruto reminded him of his sister; so much power, yet so unorthodox and possibly unruly. But he was being spiteful to his sister and he didn't know Naruto enough to continue his internal face palm. He had been raised to be polite and hold off his judgments of others... even with people like Naruto.

"Lord Uzumaki, you may really want to relax and stop with the sudden movements." Sogeki finally decided to speak but Naruto either couldn't hear him over his own voice, or he ignored him. Either way, it irked Sogeki's pride enough for him to suddenly spike his chakra to uncommon, but not impossible, levels. That seemed to had worked as a blue set of eyes quickly turned towards him then raised an eyebrow.

"Now that I have your attention...Those Senbon are specially made to become a corrosive slime if someone touches them..."

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, who is this guy?" Naruto tried his best to whisper to Kakashi, but whispering to Naruto was slightly below the average man's inside voice.

Both Kakashi and Sogeki sighed. 'At least he stopped yelling' Kakashi thought to himself before answering. "This is the ANBU Captain of Team Akuma Kira" He stopped right before saying his name, almost forgetting that the ANBU used codenames to remain anonymous, hidden even in the village. 'Wait.. hidden...'

Then Kakashi got an idea. An awful idea. The Hokage got a wonderful, **awful** idea! "And he's a contender for the next Hokage, so both you and the others had better listen to him. Otherwise, you may never learn more about him, he might know some unbelievable secrets and jutsu to beat even you, Naruto."

_**'I'm what!?'**_ Sogeki visibly flinched, but only Kakashi noticed it as Hinata prepared herself. Kakashi had just said her fiance's trigger.

"He's... WHAT!?"

"Yes, I'd even say he's the prime contender given his intelligence and abilities. But that's to be expected from the next head of the Kamikura clan." Kakashi gave the most enthusiastic dull smile he could manage while placing a hand on Sogeki's shoulder, two things he knew would egg Naruto on. But that was the plan. He told the lie of Sogeki being a chosen contender simply because he knew Sogeki wouldn't deny it out loud unless ordered to, and he knew this would catch Naruto's interest.

"You're from the Kamikura clan?" Sogeki was surprised to hear it was Hinata to ask him that question. She seemed a bit interested, judging by the way she turned both her and Naruto's body towards Sogeki. "I've heard a lot about your clan from my grandfather and father, it's an honor to actually meet one of the noble Guardians of Iron." She added with the best bow she could give.

Both Naruto and Kakashi looked towards Sogeki then back towards Hinata.

"Um... thank you. I am honored to see that the Hyuga are so well informed, and that their heir is very polite, mature, and has such a strong chakra signature." Sogeki tried his best to not sound like he was flirting to her, Kakashi had already found a way for Naruto to want to try and beat him into the ground, but flirting with his fiance would just be adding injury to injury.

"Hey, could you please tell me about his clan later, right now I just remembered that we're here for something else." Naruto spoke to Hinata in a surprisingly serious tone, as if he had just been spurred into business. 'This guy is a contender above me? And Hinata called him a Guardian of Iron? I'm not sure what that is but it sounds really bad ass.'

'I better be careful, this guy is everything I don't share with Kakashi-sensei. He's cool, and calm. Oh crap, he's just like Kakashi-sensei and even dad! I'm screwed!' Naruto actually wasn't that short anymore, being 180 centimeters, or 5'10", to Kakashi's 181cm. Naruto was actually much more mellow after the events of the war, this was just different because he had nearly died on his way there.

"Glad things have calmed down, now, what is it that you came here to tell me?" Kakashi said with an accomplished smile as he walked back behind his desk. "Captain, would you mind taking out the Senbon?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage." Sogeki quickly appeared behind Naruto only to have two sets of eyes peering back at him, one of which was an already activated Byakugan. Both Naruto and Hinata had, on reflex alone, prepared to defend themselves when they felt him there behind them, but relaxed after a millisecond of realization and confirmation.

With a nod of approval, Sogeki quickly held his open hand out towards Naruto's back before the Senbon all suddenly were pulled out without actually being touched. Sogeki was astounded to not only see that the toxins hadn't spread very far from their entry points, but the wounds were already beginning to heal. 'That's impressive, he heals just like father.'

When Naruto felt all of the Senbon being pulled out at once, he knew Kakashi must had been telling the truth about this guy and just had to see how he did that. When Naruto turned to look, he found the four Senbon hovering in the air above the Captain's hand, something that reminded him of Gaara's sand.

"Naruto? You were saying?" Kakashi asked.

"What? Oh, right." Naruto pulled his attention back towards Kakashi as he took a small breath. "Hinata and I were in the park earlier and left because it was getting very cold, so we were going to head to Ichiraku then back to my place when Hinata said something about winter."

"Um.. I said that it shouldn't be that cold yet and so sudden."

"Yeah, that. And that was when Kurama had decided to speak up and say something about a vast amount of chakra in the air. And even I was caught off guard when he, of all people, said _vast_ amount. Anyway, I activated Sage mode and I felt it." Naruto shivered when he recalls what the chakra felt like with his Senjutsu enhanced sensory abilities. "Boy, was he right. I hadn't felt like that since the war and knew something was wrong. So I asked Hinata to look with her Byakugan, but she didn't see where it was coming from either."

"Sogeki, does that match your story?" Kakashi called out to the young captain with such a serious tone that neither of them cared that he slipped in Sogeki's real name. Well, his real name was _Sogekori_, but now was not the time for that.

"Yes, Lord Hokage. My partner and I have almost the same story, though I concluded that it was coming from the far southwest of the village." Sogeki confirmed Kakashi's suspicions.

Here he had two powerful and skilled Shinobi - make that three powerful and skilled Shinobi and a gigantic nine-tailed chakra being - coming to his home in the middle of the night and both about some sort of chakra event outside the village. The information was not enough to assume it was a war, or even a threat to the village, but it was without a doubt worth investigating. He knew he could have the ANBU do it, but judging by the fire he saw in Naruto's eyes, that he was going to go even if he'd been told not to. Because it was so late and tracking everyone ideal for this mission in the village would be too time-consuming, he was left with only one logical option.

"Sogeki, is your sister awake?"

"Yes, I am."

Everyone, including Kurama, were suddenly caught off guard by the intrusion of Motoko's voice and chakra. In unison, all heads turned towards the door to see the ever confident Motoko standing against the wall with her arms crossed and a smile on her face. 'Yup, nailed it.'

Both Naruto and Kakashi seemed a bit unnerved by the fact that neither of them detected anything from her. Hinata was astonished because she didn't see Motoko there when she had activated her Byakugan when Sogeki was behind her, meaning she had speed that rivaled Guy's, or she had some type of seals to obscure the Byakugan's gaze. Kurama found her presence to be as sudden as Sasuke's invasion of Naruto's subconscious all those years ago, something that still peaks his interest. And Sogeki...

Sogeki, through all of his knowledge and genius only had only one word on his mind, even as his breathing stopped.

'FUCK!'

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ALRIGHT, that was chapter one, you guys! If anyone made it this far, you have both my admiration and thanks! You guys are awesome and hold a special place in my cold, black heart. (Hey, at least I'm not heartless.)

Next chapter will feature the introduction of the Alliance Council, Ryuken, a small scene with our unfortunate Tiger, more on the chakra events, and many more things! Including a bit more history on the Kamikura.

RECOMENDATION TIME: This chapter's suggestion goes to my good friend, Serious Sam, for his awesome and inspiring work on **My Precious People**. The story was originally written by Nube De Cristal but was adopted by Sam. If you're a NaruHina fan, you should definitely give it a read! It takes place eight years after the war, but bare in mind that the story came out a few years ago so things are a bit different than canon. But I can say it's easily one of my favorites on this site. In fact, I actually plan on my chapters to match that 15,000 to 17,000 average words a chapter!

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I'd like to ask that you sit through the credits and relax, as you're going to be getting a little presentation. If you make it through, please include the answer to this question into a pm or your review! The answer will be vaguely hidden in my explanations and if you get it right, I will make sure to feature your idea and even try to draw you something!

**The question is: Where are the "Allied Lands"?**

That being said, if you have no interest in this, you don't have to read past this point. I will say to you all that my end of chapter ramblings will be long, but never this long. I know many of you will have no interest in reading it, I understand, but thank you to those that do.

So, I said I'd explain more at the end of the chapter and I will. But first I'd like to point out that this is going to be an **Expanded World** (a reference to the Expanded Universe of Star Wars) type story with many plots, some significant, some not so much. That being said, I'd like to have my readers involved in the way the world works, so feel free to offer suggestions, references, or even ideas. This story was started as a role play filled with dozens of characters, all created by friends and acquaintances alike, and I wouldn't mind having a few more!

If anyone has any questions about what Naruto was doing before the start of this story, just pop a pm at me and I'll explain.

The Expanded World series will be featuring more stories all in a single continuity of each other and talk to me if you'd be interested in adding your own story to it!

Part of the expanded world idea is that I will be adding a lot of new locations, landmarks, and territories to the Naruto World. Most prominently will be the Untamed Isles, which are a series of islands to the far north-west of the Land of Lightning. This place is, for lack of a better term, a hellish tropical place. I will also be tying in Genbu (the massive Island Turtle in the Land of Lightning, for those that do not know his name or what he's a reference to) to the Untamed Isles since he, and many giant creatures, will be from there. The islands have massive, jagged, spikes, and terrain much like Genbu's back.

Another new place will be the Allied Lands, which are the places where the Shinobi Alliance are based. If you want an idea of what that's like, think Republic City from The Legend of Korra. The Allied Lands were established off the coast of the Land of Lightning and Fire, it was created by Iwagakure's earth style Ninjutsu with help from the Mizukage's lava style, cultivated by Yamato's wood style, and is still being expanded as the Alliance grows. It is a cultural melting pot. The Alliance Police Force is stationed there and in each of the five allied nations, with bases in other countries that have agreed to join the Alliance. While I'm explaining this, I might as well point out that the Shinobi Alliance has essentially become the equivalent of our world's United Nations, which was originally established by many of WWII's Allied Forces to broker -relative- world peace and to ensure that another World War did not happen. The Shinobi Alliance Police Force serves as the Naruto world's Interpol.

And please don't get mad about me making the Naruto World similar to ours, because it already has many things similar to the real world. The First and Second Shinobi World Wars are confirmed to had been references to our World Wars. Also Naruto's World experienced the Sengoku Jidai (Madara and Hashirama's era), which was the Warring States period of Japan that lasted from 1467 to 1603, ending with the founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate by The Great Uniter, Ieyasu Tokugawa. However, in the Naruto world, the Sengoku period never had a specified beginning, with it's ending being when Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju founded Konoha, thus beginning the Shinobi Villages Era.

I will be following Kishimoto's own rule of no conventional firearms, however.

Another part of the expanded world idea is that I will be creating many historical events and groups. One of them being the Old Land of Iron, which will be my little way of having a back story for Ryuken and just to make the story feel much more capacious. The Old Land of Iron was originally the most powerful of all the nations during the Warring States Era, but eventually fell when Shinobi from the other lands managed to assassinate the Daimyo and his entire clan. This prompted many of the old Samurai to commit seppuku, allowing the Daimyo of other lands to conquer much of the Old Land of Iron until it resembles the Land of Iron present during the events of Naruto. This is also the time that Ryuken became a Ronin by refusing to kill himself or stay.

Another historical point will be many references to real world (and other anime) people, heroes, and legends. The most prominent ones you all may had saw was the random mention of Ieyasu Tokugawa by Sogeki when he was thinking about Ryuken's exploits, the mention of the Oda clan, and the name Yachiru. Ieyasu was the first Shogun of Tokugawa and the man to end the Warring States period in our world, thus unifying Japan. In the Naruto world, Ieyasu will still be a great hero and immensely powerful man, but he never manages to end the Warring States period. He was also a friend and rival of Ryuken about one hundred years ago. The Oda clan has a double reference, actually. They were a very powerful clan in our world with a history I won't fully go into simply because I've wasted enough of your time. The second reference is towards Masashi Kishimoto's friend, rival, and fellow mangaka, Eichiru Oda (The creator of One Piece). Many of you may have seen the One Piece reference at the end of Naruto where Bolt painted the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates on Naruto's statue. Well, there was also a Naruto ending reference in One Piece. The cover of one of the newer chapters, I can't remember the number because I am not the biggest One Piece fan (still love it though), where Naruto and Luffy were eating ramen together. Well, I admire the bromance that Kishimoto and Oda have had for the past 15 years, so I will be adding a recurring minor character who will have a Panda Sage mode and a Pandaman Summoning. (Don't ask, Oda has a background character known as Pandaman that appears in almost- if not every episode and chapter of One Piece. Hey, at least I haven't done a Akira Toriyama reference... yet.) The last reference is to Yachiru "Retsu" Unohana, the former captain of Squad Four and the Original Kenpachi and former captain of Squad Eleven in Bleach. Must I even justify such a reference to an incredibly bad ass woman? Anyway, she is another one of Ryuken's special peers in this story. Wink, wink. More will be revealed of her in due time.

Are you still there? I'm so, so sorry I'm writing so much, I can't stop! But if you've made it this far and haven't either left, committed suicide, or plotted my death, then please indulge me a little longer!

You guys may had noticed that I compared Motoko to Itachi quite a few times. That was not the original plan for her. She was originally going to be the third most powerful character I was going to introduce, well, she still is, but now that bar has been a bit more refined and balanced. Motoko was to be my prodigy, my Motoko Kusanagi and Batman in terms of being prepared for basically anything and can take on just about anyone when a plan is in place. She still is, but now she's more mellow in terms of things like that. Her inspirations are Motoko "Major" Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell, Balsa from Moribito, a little bit of Selina Kyle (Catwoman), and a twist on the whole power responsibility theme. I'd place her max power (and believe me when I say that it will be justified, stop calling me out) at in par or above a Sage, but obviously below below The Eighth Gate of Death. Anyway, you may had seen that her personality is a bit cold and or manipulative with a dry sense of humor but a strange, strained sense of kindness. You may be thinking that she's inconsistent; that was intended by her. Just bare with her, you may grow to hate and or love her. Either way, that will make her remember-able.

At the beginning, I said a few characters will be above Kage level. Well, no one is more powerful than Ryuken. He's inspired by Genryusai Shinguni Yamamoto, the former Head Captain, of Bleach and many historical figures. I'm not going to explain much about him, that's to be seen and he's going to be the main character of a spin-off series in the Expanded World series about his youth and back story. This will be where most of the historical references will go. Don't worry, it'll be much, much shorter than these chapters. I'll just say that he is powerful enough for many people to be upset with him about not helping during the war or Kurama's attack on the village.

That about wraps things up. Took me long enough, right? I'm so sorry I wrote so much and didn't even explain the chakra event, but I was told that the chapter was already too long as it was. So I opted out for a cliffhanger.


	2. Chapter II: -the inevitable-

_"If we focus so long on what is lost, we fail to see what can be gained."_

Hey, guys! Guess who? That's right, it's me, that guy from that one story you read that one day while bored! I knew you all loved me, haha. Anyway, I'm back with this newest chapter and with the hope to achieve my true goal of world domination and ascendance into divinity.

Okay, guys, seriously. Welcome back to **The Scales of Peace and War**, the historical, political, action packed, sexy, drama of a fanfiction. Last chapter took so long to write and edit, that I was almost discouraged with the idea of even writing a new chapter, let alone a small spin off. But I'm back and the same as ever. Sorry it took me so long to upload this one, I actually had most of written months ago with about fifteen or so thousand words a month in, but I ended up cutting that stuff for later use. I may make a part two of this chapter, haha. Had a lot of distractions with friends, studying, Xenoverse, a freakin' family reunion, my friend's house burning down, then the fact my mom just had another baby. That makes two baby brothers I have to defend myself from as I groom them in the Dark Side of the Force.

So I messed up last time and pasted the text rather than uploading the story. This got rid of all the formatting I had made such as **bold** and _italics_. That took away part of the feel for the reading process to me, so I'll be sure to upload it this time. It also made the story a pain to read. Thankfully, this time the app I use on my phone just added an awesome spellchecker feature. It sucks at words that aren't in English, as it marks them as errors, but, it still helps me see my hiccups.

That being said, I recommend **Kingsoft Office **for anyone who has to write on their phones, like me. It's not overly big, being about 30mbs, can convert things to and read PDF, make spreadsheets and basically what Microsoft Office can do. It even recovers any unsaved work, allows you to save on cloud storages, SD cards, or internal spaces, and even has a direct share feature that allows you to email and send the story with the push of a button. The best part is that the app is completely free.

Oh, and another tip to those who want to triple check to ensure there are no errors in their writing should get a text-to-speech app or program. It basically reads everything you've written back to you in this annoying voice. But, because it reads it to you, you can pick up on things you or your beta would sometimes miss while reading it in your head. When it gets to a horribly misspelled word, it'll read out the letters in the word. Impossible to miss. Another benefit from this is that you get to hear the flow of the sentence. Just something to consider, not trying to force you guys.

Anyway, this chapter WAS originally going to be an exploration into things that have happened after the war while our heroes investigate the chakra disturbance. It was also going to be introducing many of your beloved characters doing what they do, such as Lee doing early morning exercises, Tsunade at her medical school/hospital, and even Shino doing... well, doing something. Now, after the constant suggestions from a great writer on this site, I have caved in and agreed to have the early chapters of the story be a little shorter so it will not scare off some readers. Because of that, I'm going to be making this chapter a bit shorter than I originally planned and will be a bit of a build up chapter. However, I'm still arrogant and stubborn enough to make it a little longer than 10,000 words. The chapter will mostly center on our characters getting READY to start the mission and maybe even a bit of them getting there. Because of that, this chapter has been named "-the inevitable-" as a joke title because some of the readers naturally assumed that it would be named "The Storm." Sorry about all of those promises of revelation for this chapter, but when do things ever turn out as they're planned? I hope that this chapter will still be worth the read.

Which reminds me, I'm still deciding if I want to mirror canon with small changes here and there, like Naruto and Hinata still not being married yet, or to outright turn this into my own universe. If I do change it to my own world... things will get pretty intense, haha. I sometimes tremble in excitement over macabre things, so let's just leave it at that. What's prompting my choice is that the 'Blank Period' of Naruto - which is currently the official name of the setting after the war - is constantly expanding and adding in new content and characters. An example is the 'Shinobi Union', which is almost exactly what I made the Shinobi Alliance; a United Nations in the world of Naruto. Unfortunately for me, I didn't find out about these things until after the release of chapter one. I want the story to be as close to canon as possible, but all this new stuff is making me lean towards going to an outright AU rather than distorting reflections, not out of hate or not liking it, but because it's hard to keep up with the additions while planning my story.

Anyway, Ryuken and some history of Motoko will still be revealed during this chapter with some more of our favorite Anbu, Tiger. I wanted to start Tiger's small story early because it'll give both he and I time to develop or crumble. Otherwise I would have had to dedicate a chapter to him later, so this may work better. I just hope it doesn't feel rushed. (No, seriously though, Tiger has a sad tale and will need the help of someone.) Much of Tiger's situation is from my personal experience with myself or others around me. Many of the smaller things are actually from my own anxiety and depression so I can say that, _sometimes_,being pushed and forced through it is one of the only ways to move forward. That said, I don't endorse anyone trying to force and push someone through depression, try a gentle approach and just being there for them. You'd be surprised how much it can help.

Oh, and Commander Dog is not an OC, he is actually the commander of the ANBU in the manga and anime. The best example of his presence would be when there was a meeting with the Fire Daimyo over who should be Tsunade's replacement after the Pain Arc. He was sitting at the table on Konoha's representative side. Danzo representing the council or ROOT (because the other two elders were there, too), Dog representing the ANBU, and Shikaku Nara representing the Jonin, since he was the Jonin Commander. Dog was also one of the two ANBU that Hiruzen brought with him when he confronted Orochimaru years before the story. I wanted to say this because Dog is not that known as a character and I'm not taking credit for his creation, since he's Kishimoto's. Also, I just wanted to explain Dog.

Anyway, as always, there will be a lot of things in this chapter that I either want as a surprise, or will forget to mention it.

I'd like to thank those that read and reviewed chapter one, seeing people even viewing the story makes me excited. Though, I do hope to have more reviews this time around. Once again, please direct any flames or hate mail to my pm where I can convert your questions into answers.

**Disclaimer: What, again? Must I do this every time!? FINE! *Chuckles lightly.* I am obviously the manifestation of the will of Kishimoto and own Naruto. Yeah, right. I'm just a huge fan with free time and the desire to write. All rights go to him and Studio Pierrot, though I happen to own the plot, many of the ideas, a lot of the characters, and a magical power known as love for good fanfiction. Though, that may, in fact, be simply infatuation on a literary sense.**

**The Scales of Peace and War**

**Chapter II - "-the inevitable-"**

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It had been almost an hour after Motoko and Eagle left for the Hokage's residence, and Tiger was getting close to the end of his shift. Much to his relief, nothing had happened to disrupt the peace of the village. Well, nothing but a few reports from patrolling ANBU and regular shinobi that matched the story Eagle had told him earlier. Something was definitely happening out there, but, thankfully it was too far out to cause hysteria.

Still, Tiger was no fool. Though he wasn't in charge of defenses back then, he had been there since before the Kyuubi's attack twenty three years ago. He knew from experience that anything could happen at any moment and the ANBU had to be ready. _He _had to be ready. The orders were already delivered to his subordinates and the barrier squad, the village was in a state of hidden high alert. The guards had closed the doors to the walls and placed seals. The ANBU under Tiger's command were patrolling the forests and setting up positions along the wall. Everything was as secure as it could get without alerting the populace. Hopefully, not too many people looked out of their windows.

"About thirty minutes left and I'm to be relieved..." Tiger mindlessly said aloud as he took a sip of his thousandth cup of coffee while reading over paperwork. It astounded the other three ANBU on that section of the village's wall to how a man could consume such vast quantities of caffeine and not be quarantined to the restroom for the rest of his life. The only thing they found to be more interesting was the fact that the ANBU had such extensive reserves of the product. That or the fact that he had a table brought to the top of the wall. "Perhaps I can request a triple shift because of the emergency..."

When Tiger felt the ANBU tattoo on his shoulder vibrate from under his coat, he understood that it was being sent to only the commanders, considering it came from _the_ Commander of the ANBU, Dog. The vibrating from lower ranks were always light, captains had slightly deeper vibrations, while commanders felt like minor pulsing. With Dog, the vibrations were almost to the point of buzzing and causing the tattoo to throb. 'Hm, seems that Commander Dog is in a meeting with the Hokage. I'm surprised I wasn't called in yet to give a summary of our defense network.'

"Tiger, what are you reading?"

Tiger nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Motoko's voice from behind him, but he managed to play it off as a small shiver from the temperature drop she seemed to bring everywhere she went. After taking a moment to relax, he took a sip of his coffee and then let out a small sigh. Why must he deal with her now?

"Just the reports from my subordinates outside of the village. They are saying that they still can't find the source out there. Normally they'd go out further to look for it, but word has already reached me that you will be leading a squad out to investigate." Tiger turned his head to look up at commander Motoko towering over him with an eerie, impassive expression on her face.

It was uncommon for her to look so... normal. Even more so than her being upset. It was just out of character for her. She'd always have an annoying, mischievous smirk on her face or a confident, carefree smile. To see her devoid of anger or whatever else was almost like an ill omen to Tiger. The few times he'd seen her make that face, it meant she actually had something important to say or she'd just calmed down from doing something big. Either way, it was always a scary situation for Tiger.

"Hm, I see." Was all Motoko ended up saying after a moment of silence. When she turned her grey eyes towards Tiger's, he felt his heart stop for a split second. It was worse than he thought, she seemed to be thinking about something... related to him. "We need to talk about something,"

'Damn it.'

***Flashback***

"Lord Hokage, I'd like to talk to you about something." Motoko had managed to alarm Kakashi a bit with the speed in which she had returned from preparing for the mission he'd given her. There, in his office, she stood, leaning against his desk as he opened the door. She was gone barely long enough for Kakashi to make it to his office in the Hokage's tower, but yet she somehow managed to beat him there. It made him think she had supply caches hidden somewhere in the tower.

"Oh, what is it Commander?" Kakashi piped up when his body willed him away from using his hidden kunai out of pure reflex. After all, she had successfully startled him. Enemies who snuck up on him at twice the distance she managed to get on him usually ended up with holes in their chests.

"Please, just call me Motoko right now, because I'm going to be calling you by your name for the rest of this conversation." Motoko bluntly said with a stoic expression on her face as she took the seat in front of his desk. She seemed to be thinking about something judging from the way she hadn't watched Kakashi as he walked around the desk, she simply stared forward at his seat in silence.

Kakashi understood what she meant by that, it was a practice in ANBU. By addressing each other by name, instead of rank or title, ANBU members would engage in something rather rare in the organization. _Personal _conversation.

"Alright, Motoko, what is it? It must be something important if we're having _that_ kind of conversation." Kakashi took his seat and placed his Hokage's cap on top of his desk to show that he'd accept her request, seeing as he had time before he was expecting a report from Commander Dog and then the council. Normally, two or more ANBU would simply lift or put away their masks to accept, but Motoko had already left hers off and Kakashi hadn't worn one in years.

"You also made it back here rather quickly, you're not expected to leave for another," - he made the laziest glance he could over towards the clock above his office door - "twenty six minutes."

"Well, what I do after this will be decided by this talk. So, I wanted to make sure that I had enough to have this talk, speak to Tsunade if I can, Commander Tiger depending on how this goes, and still have time to say goodbye to someone important to me." Motoko ran a hand through her hair as she sighed, as if thinking of what to say. Her gaze shifted to something random in the background before closing her eyes.

It wasn't easy for her to talk like this to someone besides her best friend and on and off bed-mate, Nadamara. Hell, she couldn't even have a conversation like this with her own family.

Her grandfather, Ryuken, was very old and wise, but he had always been the one others looked towards. The man was a legend, throughout the entire world at least every elder had heard tales of his deeds or power. Even if Naruto had become known as a great hero to everyone, with his name on the minds of rivals, maidens, and criminals, many still remembered the Adamant Dragon God. The boy who defied everything and wanted power in his youth, hated his father, and spent years battling whoever was brave enough to face him. The man who sought out his lover, destroyed a nation to do it, and helped redefine the Kamikura after its fall. Then, the elder who had cardinal knowledge and wisdom over ten-thousand things, power men and women would kill each other to have, and had outlived his peers by an entire lifetime. So, obviously, he didn't understand the feeling one would get when they watch someone they respect, a mentor, slowly crumble and become someone else entirely. He never had that type of bond nor did he want one.

Her father, Ryusei, was of a similar cloth, but he could be overwhelming in talks. He was always so loud and jovial, it was hard to even get a word in with him. He had always been like that, so carefree and just hard to hate. He had hundreds of friends throughout his long life, but never anyone to look up to for guidance as even people like Hashirama Senju were among his friends and rivals, even if he was at least a decade or two younger. That's why he wouldn't understand.

Sogekori, on the other hand, just hadn't trusted Motoko in years; even before she began messing with him. He was impossible to talk to for her and he'd just keep absolute silence whenever she was around. Even if he did understand, there's no way she'd know from the way he avoids her. Sometimes, he almost behaved as if he outright hated her and she was pretty sure she knew why.

Tiger and Kakashi were two people she had looked up to when she first joined the ANBU as a little girl. Her third model and original squad leader, Itachi, had fallen from grace not too long after she joined. So, she wasn't going to count him for her early role models anymore. She was close to him. Or at least that's what she liked to believe, seeing as she had a massive crush on him as a girl. Even though he was five years older than her, and her captain, she would fantasize about him whenever they weren't together. Ah, to be young. Then again, that may be why she had always preferred older men.

But, like many others who knew Itachi, his defection had affected and shocked her greatly. She eventually found out the truth about Itachi's mission when his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, was brought in by Kakashi to an ANBU meeting a few years ago to tell of how much dedication that Itachi, as a Konoha Shinobi and ANBU, had. So much that he sacrificed his family and clan for the sake of the village. It was an attempt to boost morale, everyone in ANBU knew that, but it was good to know for those who cared for the Uchiha. There was even a medal named after Itachi for ANBU that defended the village, even in the face of death or disgrace.

However, at the time when Itachi left, she felt cold, angry, and betrayed. Her squad fell apart quickly and each member was absorbed into a different one. She'd started taking every mission she could, including the suicide ones, just so she could leave the village and maybe hear something about Itachi. Not because of her old infatuation with him, but because she wanted answers from him. After awhile with no leads, she simply stopped talking whenever she came back to work and sunk into a pit of anger and resentment.

Fortunately, Kakashi and Tiger were nice enough to help her out of her pit. She wouldn't admit it, but she was terrified of them both at first. They both seemed so cool and powerful that she felt she was leagues beneath them both, even though they were weaker than Itachi. Kakashi was the younger of the two - about fourteen or so years older than her, of course - and he was a genius,. He was also already a legend in the ANBU by that point. He understood what she was going through with Itachi and being so young in the organization, seeing as he was Itachi's old squad leader and was about thirteen when he joined. Because of the way he could relate to her problem, he offered to have her transferred to Team Ro, his squad.

She was glad he did, because it let her understand the importance of teamwork and trust again. Even if she acted differently now, she could still work well with, and for, others whenever the situation prompted it. But trust? That was different. Trust was something she wasn't entirely sure she was still capable of. Not anymore.

She also managed to get the pathos of Tiger and his wife soon after her transfer. They were like a second set of parents for her, especially Tiger. He would always be there for her to offer advice and would listen to her if anything was ever wrong. He had taught her that strength may define the body, but it is the will that defines the person. Motoko was always happy to see the old ANBU, she was actually happy that he'd wait for her to return from missions just so she could meet his daughters and have someone near her age to interact with. He apparently shared beliefs with the First Hokage that children, even shinobi children, should still have a childhood.

He had even trained her in many different Earth Style and defensive techniques such as his signature jutsu, Earth Tiger Claws, which was basically earth gauntlets that formed around the user's arms in the shape of a tiger's paw. Hell, he was more of a teacher than Mizuki, her academy instructor, ever was. But all of these things were before she left the village.

After she returned, she was saddened to see that the fierce and bold Tiger had been... different. For starters, he didn't remember her at all. Then again, she had grown to be over six feet with a body that would turn any insecure woman green with envy. Motoko would have reminded him, if she found it important enough. The man had so very much on his mind with work and what happened to his wife during the war. He had been left broken by grief that eventually he snapped and shut down his emotions. Motoko has watched for the past four years as one of her mentors died slowly, leaving only a strained husk with depression. He'd drown himself in work to stay away from home, and had developed an addiction to caffeine so he wouldn't have to sleep. The only thing that hadn't changed was just how stubborn the old bastard could be.

But now, she decided, that enough was enough. She was tired of keeping it all inside and was tired of watching him waste away. Motoko was going to help him, whether he liked it or not. Not because it was important to her, she wasn't so selfish that she'd try to change a man just so it would make her happy. She wanted to do it because it was outright insulting to who he was and what he stood for, or what his wife, Miss Hitomi, had died for.

"I want to talk to you about Commander Tiger, I don't have to tell you which ANBU that is, do I?" Motoko finally managed to say after a few moments of pause.

"No, Tiger has been a veteran in the ANBU for almost as long as I've been alive. I also, as Hokage, have extensive knowledge of everyone in the organization." Kakashi added that last part - that should have went without saying - with a tone that told her that he wasn't a jackass behind the desk.

"Alright, I just wanted to make sure because, as you know, we're losing members every few days to the Allied Police Force." She paused to take out a storage seal that was hidden up her sleeve and activated it. Kakashi was surprised to see that it was only two cups of coffee inside of the seal, he had expected some type of file or document. "Would you like some?" She asked as she offered one of them, using her chakra to heat it up while she waited for his answer.

"Of course, thank you." Kakashi said as he took the cup and lifted it up to his lips, as he lowered the very top of his mask, but, hesitated when he felt the familiar feeling of someone watching him. This sensation had never been wrong, and happened whenever he would try to eat or drink something around almost anyone. In fact, Guy seemed to be the only living person not interested in what Kakashi looked like under the mask. When he looked up, he found Motoko staring at him with a small smile on her lips. "That was a trap to see my face, wasn't it?"

"Maybe. Not quite as clever as the tricks I used to pull on you, but it was worth the try." Motoko chuckled as she showed that her cup was empty by tilting it over, as it was only meant to convey the idea that she wanted to share a drink. "Anyway, I wanted to talk about the way Tiger has been behaving as of late. I believe he's going through severe PTSD and possibly chronic depression."

"Oh? I haven't seen him in a while, but I have read the reports he's written and I have seen the results of his evaluation exams." Kakashi placed his cup on his desk and opened up the drawer for ANBU reports. After finding the right file, he casually tossed it down and opened it so he could pull out a few blank pieces of paper. "Go on, please."

"Hm.. well, I work with him a lot and I can safely say that something is wrong. He'll be fine and stoic one moment then he'd suddenly freeze and stare off in space. He once stood up and stared at the wall for literally an hour, while mumbling things about how he's sorry, then I swear he had started to cry under his mask." Motoko sighed in frustration and pinched her temples for a second before shaking her head. "When he's like that, even his chakra feels different. Almost as if he's under a type of genjutsu. The man is a shell."

"Officially, it wouldn't be a problem as long as he gets his job done - which he has been doing quite well," Kakashi took a moment to watch Motoko blink slowly as her eyes grew a bit darker. When he felt the temperature drop a few degrees, he knew it was her doing and knew she was getting upset a bit. 'This must be serious for her, she's usually so patient and indifferent to everything around her. She makes it seem like she's upset or being impatient, but, even without my Sharingan, I can tell it's a front.'

"Let me finish. Officially, it wouldn't be too much of a problem. But, personally, I..." Kakashi took a small sigh as he looked back at the things he faced. He had suffered from the same things in the past as Tiger is going through now, though the reasons were different. "I understand what you mean and I actually think that this is rather odd for him."

"Thank you for agreeing, and sorry for the little glare there. I just get... anyway, thanks."

Kakashi nodded in relief when he felt the temperature return to normal while Motoko's expression also returned to its usual indifference. Though he was happy to see that she hadn't changed as much as her brother or reports had claimed. "Am I to assume you have an idea?"

"Yes, I had a talk with Shizune down at the hospital during my break and she agreed to talk to Tsunade about some type of therapy for Tiger. Because she, apparently, knew him well when they were younger, she agreed to do it for free and even agreed to place him under an emotional watch if given permission."

"You know, you can't force someone to get better. I mean, you can, but most of the time it makes things worse." Kakashi thought about the situation a bit ethically, but his subconscious wanted to admit that if it weren't for Obito and Rin's spirit, and the cumulative support of many others, he'd never had gotten better and learned to get over it. Maybe some men just didn't heal over time, maybe they just needed a force to move them forward until they can do it themselves.

"I agree, but we both know just how stubborn the ANBU Commander of Defense can be. He is likely to have mental walls protecting him, keeping him _safe_ from intrusion into his psyche."

"However, those walls have also made him susceptible to crumbling doubt and rendered him detached from who he used to be."

"Those walls need to be torn down. And both Tsunade and I have agreed to be the women for the job. Hell, I'll do it by force if I have to," Motoko cracked her knuckles for added effect, "he needs a good ass kicking to see just how much he's fallen."

"If..." Kakashi sighed and placed his head back against his chair. He was still conflicted with the whole subject. He really did understand where she was coming from, but he also knew what it was like to be engulfed in darkness by grief, guilt, hate, or any other emotional plague. A considerable amount of time could not pass without Kakashi thinking just where he'd be now if it weren't for his predecessor, Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The man watched as Kakashi sunk further and further into the darkness until he had actually considered taking Danzo's offer to join the foundation. Thankfully, he didn't. Fortunately for Kakashi, Hiruzen had actually decided to remove him from the ANBU all together and placed him as a Jonin teacher. Thanks to that, his life was eventually placed back in order, as he finally came to terms with his grief.

"If you think that forcing him to move on is the best course of action..."

"I wish it wasn't, but even his daughters agreed with me that he won't get any better unless he's left no other choice." Motoko looked down at the blank pieces of paper that Kakashi had placed on the desk for a moment before looking back up at him. "Did you know that he hasn't let them past the kitchen whenever they visit?"

"I thought his daughters have both been gone for a couple of months? You must had this building up for quite a while." Kakashi was starting to think that the reports he received about her behavior were simply gossip, that, or she was as good as Itachi or Kabuto were at acting.

"..." It wasn't that Motoko couldn't respond to that, she simply couldn't think of the right way to say what she was thinking so she decided to just change the subject. "Do I have your permission to order him to go to the therapy? We're both of the same rank so it's either going to you or Commander Dog, but, ehhh... he doesn't like me that much." She said with light shrug of her shoulders.

"I can't imagine why."

"Careful, Kakashi, snarky responses excite me and make me want to get playful."

***End Flashback.***

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It had been less than thirty minutes since they left Kakashi's home. Their instructions were to head home and get anything necessary for possibly a one to three day mission. However, Hinata suggested that they get their gear, some clothing and food, and then buy anything else they'd need in the closest town to the area of interest so they'd be able to travel lightly. No one opposed the idea, believing that it would make things easier in the long run if they had to report back.

"Okay, I'm betting thirty Ryo that Commander Motoko will be the last to arrive." Eagle piped up as he rested his back against the currently closed village gate. He had been sitting there tracking his fingers over the ground while staring up at the sky that seemed to had calmed a bit. Once he was satisfied that a massive bolt of lightning wouldn't hit the village, or the highly unlikely event of the sky falling down on him, he looked elsewhere. Then again, they said the moon falling was impossible as well.

"That's not really fair when we both know she's always late," Sogeki said before letting out a sigh and going back to his marksman exercises. The exercises were simply him creating three shadow clones that would go off to hide anywhere in the village and the surrounding forests. Basically, anywhere out of sight and of a considerable distance. That part was already done and Sogeki was just about to start the second, which was the marksman side.

He closed his eyes and reached his sensory abilities out in all directions. In his mind, there was nothing, no buildings or wind, only darkness. Then, as he activated his enhanced sensors, the blackness was filled with thousands of white and blue flames. These flames represented the chakra of the villagers; white being the civilians, blue being anyone with at least the chakra of the average Genin. Sogeki had been taught how to apply additional filters to the chakra around him such as changing the colors to represent the different levels of chakra classes or changing the shape to match the body of the owners. He could even filter out what he wasn't looking for, which in this case, was everything that wasn't the chakra of his own clones.

'Three signatures, one to the southwest of here by three thousand yards; within the roots of a tree...' Sogeki could see his clone as if he'd been watching him from a bird's eye view, he had been casually reading through a few scrolls to past the time. 'There, the second one is by the gates to the training grounds and seems to be..' Sogeki chuckled lightly when he saw what his clone was doing. Though he couldn't see anything else, he could tell that his second clone was currently tossing Shuriken into the practice posts from the way it was moving. 'Leave it to me to train while training. Anyway, I can't seem to find the third one anywhere in or out of the village... That's impossible, I didn't receive the memories so he's still out there, but he was there a second ago, and he can't suppress his chakra from me because it is my chakra.' "Unless,"

"Hm?" Eagle stopped what he was doing- which was basically sending vibrations underground using his Gentle Fist. He would often do this when he was waiting. The goal was to knock the kunai, which he stabbed into the dirt usually about five feet away, out of the ground. Pretty straightforward. Once the kunai had fallen, Eagle laughed triumphantly and then turned his head towards Sogeki. "'Unless' what?"

"Oh, sorry. Didn't know I said anything." Sogeki was pulled out of his concentration by the slight embarrassment he was feeling. He had a tendency of accidentally speaking aloud when he was deep in thought or making calibrations for his marksmanship.

"Oh. Well, you did."

"Yeah..."

"... what are you doing, anyway? I was daydreaming about Motoko when you chickened out of my bet." Eagle raised an eyebrow when he saw Sogeki visibly shudder.

"What the hell could you have been daydreaming about with Motoko!?" Sogeki looked sick, almost as if he just ate rancid beef. The various thoughts that crossed his mind weren't exactly the best things any younger brother should have, especially the brother of Motoko. Thinking about how Eagle had been completely gagged and tied up less than thirty minutes ago and carried around on Motoko's back made him severely question his partner's intentions... and his sanity. 'Maybe Motoko is right about him, he might be attracted to abuse.'

"What - no! I didn't mean anything like whatever you're thinking!" Eagle frantically waved his hands as he sweated bullets, his pale Hyuga skin looked ghastly in what little moonlight that was present. "I was simply thinking about what she could be doing to always make her so late. I mean, she's unbelievably fast and could probably keep up with the late Fourth, that is, if he wasn't using his Hirashin."

Because of Eagle's age being twenty-four, Sogeki would have questioned the validity of his comparison, but he remembered that Eagle likely got to see the Fourth's fabled speed during the war. Though, part of Sogeki wanted to say that what Motoko was showing was not the apex of her speed, for she'd been holding back, and was always wearing her own modified version of the 'Perseverance' weights that she received from either Rock Lee or Might Guy. She kept them along her arms, legs, and around her hips.

"She's probably just packing clothes. After examining the chakra pulses in the sky, I can tell they're coming from somewhere near the Land of Hot Springs. Knowing Motoko, she's likely figured that out before me and decided she'd get the chance to relax," Sogeki turned his gaze up towards the sky to watch the clouds as he spoke, checking to see if they still held the gigantic chakra he felt earlier.

To no surprise, he still felt it there, looming over the land and heading out until it left Sogeki's field of sensing. "The Hokage said we're to scout out that entire area and report back to an inn so we can ask around if we don't find the source by sunrise. After that, we are to send a message back to him and wait nearby for further orders."

"Ha, I've always wanted to vacation there; never got the chance to, though. They don't really let us branch members out of the village to do whatever we want too often." Eagle chuckled a few times then sighed and absentmindedly rubbed his fingers over the forehead of his mask as if it were his Caged Bird seal. After a few moments of silence, he turned his head back towards Sogeki and looked him over a few times.

He could see the similarities in Sogeki's facial features to the Hyuga, the strangely distinct smoothness of the skin and the shape of the eyes, and thought about how lucky he would have been to be born into a different clan. Maybe even the Kamikura, considering just how many of them were his distant relatives. Though almost any clan would do, preferably one that allowed him a bit more freedom.

If it wasn't for the pride he felt for being a Hyuga and his own philosophy, he'd probably joined many of the branch members in quiet resentment. "Hm... oh, yeah, you never said what you were doing."

Sogeki could recognize the telltale signs of Eagle thinking about his seal, something that was rare for him. He'd normally joke about it, saying it would go off if he did something, like paying Sogeki back on food fees or rent for hotel rooms. He'd actually show it off with pride, saying that it, like his Byakugan, made him a Hyuga, and it was as part of their history as roots are to a tree. He didn't even have it bandaged under his mask. To see him actually seem a bit melancholic over it was a bit unsettling, considering Eagle's philosophy of 'no point frowning or crying when you have the strength and will to smile and laugh.' Sogeki wanted to see if he was okay, but decided to respect his partner's attempt to change the subject. 'Hyuga are stubborn no matter the situation anyway.'

"I was just practicing my long range attacks, but I was having trouble finding my third clone. I tracked the first two; one of them being in the forest, and the other out by one of the training grounds. I was just about to check underground networks when I accidentally said 'unless'"

"Ah, I guess I can watch to make fun of you if you miss. I might even find the third one with my Byakugan first." Eagle smirked from under his mask and activated his Kekkai Genkai, turning his sight off towards the two clones that Sogeki mentioned, finding them a few seconds later. "Pfft, you're definitely Motoko's little brother..." He found it comical that his clones were both relaxing or training intensely, the only things Motoko ever seems to do besides messing around and drinking.

'Well, not _everything_.' The Hyuga thought as images filled his mind.

Sogeki rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing earlier, which was searching for his third clone. He stretched his sensory bubble out once again, but this time allowed it to seep underground through the sediment until he found the crafty clone about six feet under the earth and near the gates of the Forest of Death. With a confident smirk, Sogeki slowly got onto the ground and lay down on his back. He was finally ready to start.

With great speed, Sogeki produced four kunai from the storage seals in his sleeves; two in each hand. 'I can handle the one at the training grounds unaided, the one in the tree roots will require some wind or fire infusion, and the third one will need lightning infusion or a paper bomb. However, I can't use lightning that well at this distance because the vibrations will disrupt the desired trajectory...' He took a moment to evaluate what his options were. Because of his clan's only signature Kekkai Genkai, the Kekkai Tota known as Forge Style, he had natural affinities to three chakra natures; fire, earth, and wind, with slight experience in lightning.

'Got it.' Sogeki opened his eyes and quickly pulled out a blank piece of seal paper and a chakra ink well from his bag. With his quill, he placed a Kamikura high explosive formula seal on the paper before wrapping it along the handle of one of the kunai. 'That should be enough...'

Once he finished putting away his quill and chakra ink, he picked up his kunai and began aiming it up towards the sky. He then concentrated on the location of his desired target and made the necessary adjustments to his aim. After a moment or two, he raised another kunai in his other hand up and aimed it with the first one. "You may want to watch this, I'm about to do something you may like."

When Sogeki charged his chakra through his arms and up to his hands, he silently launched one of the kunai at blinding speed into the sky without throwing it. A second later, he launched the second one in the exact same path as the first and then waited. Eagle reacted first by gasping in surprise. Through his Byakugan, he could see that the first kunai had landed exactly above the clone hidden underground, much to its surprise when it heard the thunk, and exploded; exposing the clone for the second kunai that came down, cutting through air and right into its chest, succeeding in hitting the heart and then finally poof.

"HOLY SHIT, great shot!" Eagle had nearly jumped off of the ground. "You got him right in the chest, he never saw it coming. Wow, leave it to you to go after the most difficult one first." He laughed a bit, impressed that Sogeki had managed to take out his target without Eagle needing to spot for him. He trembled a bit at just how scary Sogeki's technique of using his chakra to launch things could be.

He could silently take out an enemy from miles away, long before anyone else could notice. If the kunai he fired were to be supplemented by explosive tags, and were to be cloned or even if the technique was used by a group of clones, he could destroy an entire stronghold in an instant. Sogeki could apply wind and lightning chakra to cut through almost anything, then his fire chakra to burn whatever target to snuff out more enemies or simply strike fear into them. He could even place summoning seals on them.

That technique was why Eagle is always placed as Sogeki's partner, he could use his Byakugan to give real time coordinates of targets in a more effective way than sensory abilities alone. Spotting out a landscape could also help drastically, as Sogeki couldn't tell if a wall was between him and his target unless he could see it. Oddly enough, he could detect through rocks, trees, or even some barriers on his own. Walls just happened to be difficult for the Kamikura heir.

"Next up is the one under the tree, I'm going to hit him in the right temple." Sogeki held up the next kunai and made the necessary preparations by infusing it with wind chakra and aiming to the southwest. For dramatic effect, he closed one of his eyes despite already having his proper calibrations. Finally, he fired his kunai and waited a few seconds. The sudden wave of memories he had received told him he was successful.

"Ehhhh, you were off by a few inches, it went right through his neck," Eagle shrugged while getting ready to watch the last clone. "But that is only because you forgot to factor that the tree would still affect the trajectory ever so slightly from this distance, even with your wind chakra. No big miss, you'd still had been off if I helped."

Sogeki frowned slightly when Eagle told him that he'd missed his desired point of impact. He then decided to make up for it with the last clone. He ran the distance of the clone in his head with the speed his kunai traveled. Sogeki placed both hands along the kunai and fired this one nearly twice as high, hoping that it would hit the clone from above rather than at an angle. After a few moments to give the kunai time to make it near the target, Sogeki quickly began to weave through a few handsigns.

"Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu: Long Ranged Volley Kill."

Judging from the way Eagle painfully winced, Sogeki concluded he hit the desired areas of his targets. When the memories flooded back in, Sogeki winced as well and ever so slightly pressed his knees together. "Bad idea making that one a eunuch..."

"Are you alright?" Eagle asked as he looked his friend over, "That seemed a little traumatizing."

"Yes... I'm fine, just remind me never to aim there again. You winced because you saw it, but I actually _felt_ it." No man should have to feel a kunai rip through his manhood, even if it were just a clone, it was just plain evil.

"What are you two love birds doing?" Motoko had asked as she suddenly landed on top of the registration booth that Kotetsu and Izumo were forever banished to as a form of occupation. She seemed somewhat annoyed by something, but otherwise nothing was different about her tone. "And Eagle, I thought the Hokage and I told you that this will not be an ANBU mission, so lose the mask or I'll strip you down so it's the only thing you're wearing for the mission."

Both Sogeki weren't sure about what they were more shocked by. The fact that she managed to sneak up on them both. Again. Or the fact that she was there. Early! It was absolutely unheard of and the very thought baffled both men. Perhaps it was an ill omen that signaled the end times. With the sky basically being swallowed up into one giant chakra storm cloud, neither Eagle nor Sogeki would have doubted that.

"Um... y-yes, ma'am.." Eagle stumbled on his words, still being in shock, before clearing his throat and began to remove his ANBU mask. With a quick shake of his head to allow his hair to sit, Eagle was no more, and so entered the Hyuga known as Natsu. Like most Hyuga, he was a brunette, had a distinctive paleness to his skin, and had the pale white eyes of the Byakugan - obviously. He kept his forehead bare of bandages and any long bangs so that his Caged Bird Seal was proudly in view.

Honestly, he looked like the average Hyuga to anyone who wasn't used to spotting the differences among them. One of the only things that set him apart was the happy and goofy way he carried himself.

"Come on guys, just because I'm here doesn't mean you guys can stop what you're doing. Hell, Nadamara still swears that you're lovers with how much time you guys spend together on missions."

"Knock it off, Motoko. You know Eagle has his all seeing eyes on you." Sogeki said in a voice that was riddled with annoyance. He was honestly tired of the joke that he and Eagle's relationship was anything but a good friendship and partnership. Eagle simply wasn't his type, considering the most obvious fact that he was male.

"Not true, I don't watch anyone because that's creepy. When you grow up in the Hyuga compound, you learn to block others out simply because if you activate your Byakugan, you're likely to see... things." Natsu protested by crossing his arms and standing up. He quickly tossed his mask over to Sogeki, who, nonchalantly, caught and sealed it away into the same storage seal that he placed his own.

"I'd imagine," Motoko yawned and stretched her arms by rolling her shoulders before jumping down to the ground in between Sogeki and Natsu. With a sigh, she tried to clear her thoughts of how annoying things went earlier with Tiger. "Tell me, can you see the real love birds with those eyes?" She asked as she turned her eyes towards the Hyuga.

"The who?" Natsu tilted his head to the side as he looked over at Motoko. He had tried to focus his mind on something else because of how awkward things were for him right now. Without his Byakugan, he could already see the tension between Sogeki and Motoko. This was going to be an odd mission. But, thankfully, he knew that Sogeki would ignore his resentful feelings as soon as the mission starts.

"She means Naruto and Hinata, Natsu." Sogeki dryly stated as he stood back up and stretched a bit like his sister had, using the opportunity to discreetly move away from Motoko by a few feet.

If it weren't for the fact that he'd be rightfully punished, Natsu would have verbally announced the similarities both siblings shared.

"Oh, and they're actually on their way now. But you probably knew that, seeing as you're a better sensor than me." Those words came out sounding a bit more annoyed in tone than they were intended, but the Kamikura heir wasn't apologizing.

"I told you, _Sogekori_," Natsu and Sogeki had a light shiver at the way she said his full first name. "I try not to use my sensing abilities within the village because all those signatures give me a headache. Besides, you've always been one to recognize them better than I can."

'Right, because sensing is so difficult.' Sogeki thought as he fought the urge to roll his eyes just in time for both Naruto and Hinata to land about a dozen or so yards away from the gate. They both had very embarrassed expressions on their faces as the three ANBU members had watched them walk over. It was a bit unnerving and caused Naruto to rub the back of his neck with a small, awkward chuckle.

Hinata wore a thin, light lavender jacket with long sleeves, black pants, and had a small bag with a single strap going diagonally over her left shoulder, down her chest, and to her right hip. Naruto was wearing a black long sleeve jacket over what looked like an orange and black shirt, matching black pants, and a matching bag to the one Hinata was carrying.

"See, Naruto... I told you we were going to be late, you took too long..." Hinata leaned in closer and mumbled to Naruto in a hushed tone. Natsu raised an eyebrow as he noticed that, but decided to dismiss the implications and innuendos going off in his head. To avoid anymore tensions, Natsu had decided to simply ignore those thoughts. Besides, who was he to dictate what someone else does in their free time? Especially with the heir to his clan and her fiance.

"Hello, Naruto, Hinata, glad you could join us. Hopefully the extra time you took was used _packing_ and... _inspecting your equipment_." Motoko asked with a small teasing tone as she waved towards them before suddenly appearing about two feet directly in front of them. She could barely hold back her satisfied smile as she watched them both momentarily flinch ever so slightly and have to restrain their reflexes.

"Oh, uh.. yes, we made sure to pack some essentials incase we all have to spend a few extra days on the mission."

"I trust you both were _very thorough_, right?" The way she lingered on each of her words sent off the innuendo flag to the lovely couple. Motoko laughed lightly when she watched both of their faces slowly turn red as if they were going to burst.

"Wh-what? We - um..." Both Naruto and Hinata stumbled on their words as they felt the glares of everyone on them. Hinata pressed her face into Naruto's chest to hide her embarrassment while the blonde waved his hands about defensively.

"We'll take that as a yes, won't we, boys?" Motoko called out to the two ANBU with a devious grin, earning different responses from both of them. "There's nothing wrong with _inspecting and packing_ before a mission. At least you both are engaged, a lot of us in the ANBU _help_ each other out without even knowing each other's names. Some have more _equipment_ than others to pack..."

Sogeki pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and sighed. Natsu cleared his throat and looked off anywhere away from Motoko. The Hyuga knew she was referring to him with that equipment statement. This was going to be a tough mission if she kept embarrassing him like she was.

"Motoko, the mission." Sogeki piped up over his sister's antics. He gave her the look that said he'd take over if she didn't, seeing as he was the second in command of the group. He wasn't sure, but he could had swore she'd just threatened him with the way she turned and leered at him. It just felt like an ice shard was only a hair away from piercing his chest or skull.

Motoko had no intention of showing it, but, through her facade, she was actually incredibly stressed and developing what felt like a migraine from her earlier meetings and the talk with Tiger. Tonight just wasn't her night and she could tell it might get worse. She had decided to entertain herself by teasing Naruto, Hinata, and Natsu a bit to ease her mind and see their expressions, but, her brother just had a way of killing the fun out of any situation. Always so strict and stiff. So, when he ordered her, she let him feel a bit of her animosity through eye contact. 'He's lucky he doesn't wake 'that' aspect up.'

Still, she figured he was right. A drag, but right. Motoko then took a second to take a deep breath and ease her nerves as best as it would help. An invisible gear switched in her head, and her demeanor changed completely. Where she was once devious and grinning, she was now monotonous in tone and strong in posture.

Her shift in character hadn't gone unnoticed by Naruto and Hinata, who watched as the lightly tanned woman stood up straight. She stood a few inches taller than the Uzumaki, but completely towered over the Hyuga. Her posture had reminded Naruto of the Raikage as she had stood steadfast and showed off her incredibly strong body. It was almost like this was a completely different person standing before them.

"Alright, our job is to investigate what the rest of the brass has decided to call the _Chakra Event_. As you can see and sense, there's a vast amount of chakra in the air and it is powerful enough to affect the very atmosphere and weather." Motoko spoke with in a manner that was reminiscent of some sort of teacher or Jonin captain while she gave each of her subordinates a glance. "Our team, fortunately, is incredibly balanced and full of tracker and sensory shinobi."

Motoko placed her hands behind her back and used one to grasp the wrist of the other. "We have at our disposal: Three Jonin and two Chunin, two sets of Byakugan, one mid-to-long range specialist, who, I might add; is also a prodigy in sensory, then myself being the Commander of the ANBU tracking and assassination divisions. And, of course, our hero here goes without saying."

"Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and even Senjutsu are all within our team's capabilities and to such a level, I dare say, the only thing we're missing to make this one of the most versatile teams in the history of the village is a damned medical specialist." Motoko let out a sigh and glanced over at Hinata and Natsu. She knew that the Gentle Fist had some healing techniques, but nothing capable of, say, fixing bone or more severe injuries. Hopefully, with a team that had two power house trump cards with it and three other competent and experienced shinobi, there shouldn't be much of a problem during the mission.

'If things do get problematic, I could always summon _them_...' Motoko thought to herself as she traced her fingers along her left hip, pumping the tiniest amount of chakra into a seal hidden by her clothes, 'but nothing short of a war would be severe enough to justify waking those two up.' When she felt the knowing eyes of Sogeki on her, she placed her hands back behind her back.

"Anyway, any questions?"

"Yes, is there anything we should know about where we're headed?" Hinata asked the ANBU Commander with an impressive level of clarity. "Both Naruto and I were unable to pinpoint exactly where the chakra was coming from earlier, not even with the help of his Sage Mode."

"I personally checked myself and it seems we're headed towards the forests near the Land of Hot Springs." Both Naruto and Hinata were curious to just how she came to that conclusion, but refrained from asking right now. There must be a reason that she was the Commander of the whole tracking division, so they just decided to leave it at some special skill or ability. "If the Hokage's estimation of the coordinates I gave him are correct, we should be arriving an hour or so before dawn."

"Alright, that sounds about right!" Naruto grinned and clenched his prosthetic hand into a tight fist. He then smiled down at Hinata and gave her a rather playful wink. "You hear that, maybe we could spend some time together after the mission."

Sogeki watched the couple as they mumbled back and forward to each other. His attention was drifting from their mouths towards his sister as she just stood there, sighing.

'Oh, great... something is bothering her..' He frowned and decided to wait at the top of the wall for them. He was beginning to think that Kakashi had some type of blind faith in the currently assembled team. Sogeki believed that the team actually couldn't have been worst, despite what his sister said. He really wished he had his team with him. Akuma Kira was his own handpicked squad of ANBU - save for the name - and he felt could had mobilized fast enough to be gone by now.

Well, at least he had Natsu, who wasn't exactly a member of Akuma Kira, but was affiliated enough with Sogeki to know how he functioned. Because of that, Natsu didn't fail to follow behind Sogeki as he jumped up the village's wall.

Motoko watched as Sogeki and Natsu headed up towards the actual rendezvous point on top of the wall. She couldn't help but sigh and close her eyes as she tried to decide which role she wanted to play for rest of the mission. She could be the joyful idiot, but that sometimes resulted in insubordination. The idea of being stern, professional, and acting like she had a stick the size of Natsu's private area shoved up her ass was never a success, as she ended up trying to beat someone with the proverbial stick every time. Especially for a mission like this.

'Teasing smart ass it is.'

"Are you two done with your foreplay? If so, we can go. If not, I wouldn't mind joining in."

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.

An enormous man walked down the halls of the Kamikura estate, taking his time to look around at the servants as they scrambled around him to fix everything that was being unbalanced by the patternless shaking. Each one of them would stop momentarily to quickly bow their heads towards the Herculean man as he passed, much to his embarrassment.

The man attempted to ignore it as best he could until even the much more elderly workers began to bow. His ears twitched as he could hear their bones popping back into place and their slightly heavy breathing. He may had not looked it, but he was actually just as old as many of the elderly workers around him, maybe even older than some. He appeared no older than about a late fifty to mid sixties in his facial features, maybe a little older because of his illness, but the rest of his body didn't look a day over forty. To anyone who had met them both, he essentially looked like a much older, stronger, titanic version of Sogeki with a thick, curly mustache.

Kamikura blood had a natural born longevity, probably from their relation to many clans, but, that was further amplified by the life force and chakra they have absorbed into and shared with their bonded weapon partner. The ending results lead to many of the more elderly of the clan appearing much younger than they truly were.

It didn't help that this particular Kamikura was built like a man in his prime with untold strength tucked under the folds of his kimono. He stood over what must be about seven feet, given the ever constant need for him to duck whenever he entered rooms. He had the mannerisms of a boy far beneath his years, doing childish things that even his son wouldn't do. All of these served to make his age an unknown on observation. His eyes, however, were the only thing that gave away insight that he was actually quite elderly, considering they told the signs of someone who has seen several decades of the world.

"Please, stop bowing; it's unnecessary and unbecoming of Kamikura." He awkwardly muttered as he held up his hand dismissively.

A young woman quickly swept around from him and got onto her knees, dropping down into a deep bow as she placed her forehead an inch or so from the ground. "Please, Lord Ryusei, respect towards the Atama Ryu is absolutely becoming of our line. It is an honor to bow to the chosen ruler of the supreme family." She said without looking up at the flustered man known as Ryusei Kamikura.

'That sounds brainwashed...' Ryusei casually thought to himself as he leaned down to help the woman up. "Please-"

Before Ryusei could even finish his sentence, or help the woman up, the remaining servants around him, who were securing everything fragile in the estate, stopped and joined the servant girl in bowing on their knees. There were at least eight of them all on their hands and knees with their gazes planted firmly on the ground.

'This is one of the many things I regret about becoming the head of the clan, it's embarrassing to have someone bow like this...' Ryusei thought as he looked around at the entire staff of night workers bow to him, a lone sweat drop appearing down his temple. He couldn't fight the urge to rub the back of his thick neck while trying to focus on something in the background until they finished with their displays of abundantly needless respect.

He had to resist the urge to sigh in their presence when the bowing continued for another thirty seconds. Ryusei had nearly forgotten what he was even out of bed for when there was another, larger quake beneath the estate. With a start, Ryusei looked around once again and tried to sense for the cause of these disturbances.

Unfortunately for Ryusei, his deteriorating health had also caused some of his abilities to languish. Because of that, Ryusei couldn't detect nearly as many things as he once could. In his prime, he could find his two children halfway across the Land of Iron while walking backwards, drunk, and blindfolded. Now, he was left with barely enough of his sensory abilities to detect all of the servants at times, much less the village.

It hurt his pride to ask for assistance finding someone - well, it hurt his pride asking anyone for help - at all. But, finding this particular person was even more debasing because the person lived in the estate.

Ryusei didn't bother to suppress his sigh this time as his shoulders slumped in defeat and he pouted like a young child. "Uh... excuse me, but, where is my father? I haven't seen him in hours."

The same woman, who started the plague of bowing, lifted her gaze up towards Ryusei momentarily before returning it to the floor. "Forgive me, but, I do not know - none of us do. Lord Ryuken said he would be retiring to the shrine after dinner, but, we went for him when these shakes began to happen and he was nowhere to be found."

"Even his room was vacant, my lord." A different servant piped up as he added on to the story of the missing Kamikura elder.

"We checked the grounds, as well, but found no trace of him. The guards said they did not see nor sense him leave, either."

Ryusei knew where he'd find his father now, and he now knew what was causing the quakes underneath the estate. It was one of the only areas that no one but he and his father knew the location of. Not even Motoko or Sogekori were permitted there unsupervised.

The Vault.

"Ah, thank you all. And thank you for the hard work, please accept this as my way of showing appreciation." Ryusei reached into his kimono and pulled out a hefty sack of what sounded like metal clicking together. From the sound, it seemed to be worth an amount of Ryo that the humble workers were afraid they couldn't even count to.

The woman at his feet slowly lifted her head up, to see what it was, and was about decline and return her gaze to the ground, but, Ryusei ended any chance of that. "You're as stubborn as an Ox." The woman squeaked at his words and attempted to apologize, but was, once again, interrupted by Ryusei. "It's for all of you, and it's an order that you take it."

"In fact, I order all of you to take the rest of the night off! The estate was spotless before you all even began working! Go out into the village, rest, do something - anything - but work! Take the guards with you, as well!" Ryusei jovially announced to everyone present as he chuckled and helped the small woman to her feet with one hand, giving her the sack of coins with the other. She tried to mumble something but was, again, interrupted by the large Kamikura.

"A lovely woman like you must have some sort of suitor - er, I mean - boyfriend."

The young woman all but exploded with embarrassment as her cheeks burned red. Ryusei found the sight absolutely adorable, but he knew not to voice that thought or she might accidentally do something rash while she's flustered. She then looked around her, towards the other servants, before leaning in closer towards Ryusei, her head now down to hide her expression with her bangs. "I.. I don't have a boyfriend..." She managed to squeeze out from herself as if it were the most shameful thing she could ever admit, "-my lord."

Ryusei, in all his years, was known by many people for just as many things. His monster strength, his gargantuan height, his mastery of the five basic chakra natures, his glorious mustache. Never, in all those years, had he been known for being lulled when he was surprised or excited. That's why the woman should had known better to say such a thing to him without expecting some sort of consequence.

"W-what!? A pretty young woman like you doesn't have a boyfriend!? If only I were thirty years younger, I would-"

When she bit her lip and looked around at the others again, then down at the sack of gold coins, Ryusei could tell that the woman was definitely from a poor family not of the Kamikura. It took him a second to remember that most of the servants were actually from Konoha, rather than out west in the Land of Iron. She had this nervous expression and posture as she looked away from Ryusei. Her hands were bandaged, she had slight bags under her eyes, and the knee and elbow sections of her uniform were both dirty; implying this one had been working for quite sometime. Kamikura craftsmen and artisans had always made very durable, well, everything. To see her uniform this worn out definitely shown Ryusei that she had been working far more just than her normal shift.

'Perhaps she works during the day as well.. that could be why such a nice girl doesn't have a suitor. That or she's secretly an assassin who's been slowly poisoning me over the course of a few years because I broke her mother or grandmother's heart. Boy, it would be unfortunate if that happened, _again_.'

Ryusei erupted into a loud, choking, laugh which caught the attention of everyone around him as they slowly stood up. The laughing was a bit unnerving to them as it seemed completely unsolicited. Some of them thought that he had just rudely disrespected the servant girl by laughing at her for not having a boyfriend while others thought he was laughing at his own surprise. Either way, the laughing was obnoxiously loud and was liable to wake the dead.

"What's your name?" The woman was startled with how quickly Ryusei had stopped laughing, his tone going back to a more casual one. She turned her green eyes up towards the Kamikura and gasped when she realized he was referring to her. Her lips parted slowly but she hesitated slightly.

"Relax, I'm only curious, and I like to know the names of all my friends."

"I don't have any friends... and it's Izumi.. my lord."

"Izumi? And no friends!?" Ryusei was shocked. No friends at all? That was something he just couldn't imagine. 'Everyone has a least one friend, even creepy, homicidal, - yet attractive - assassins that could be poisoning me.' "That settles it, when my children return, I'm introducing you to them! You seem to be about a few years older than Sogekori, maybe this could fix both of your being single problems!"

Izumi's head twitched to a tilt as she raised her eyebrows and grasped her wrist with her free hand.

"**Huh!?**"

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.

.

Deep within the vault of the Kamikura estate, hours after the rest of the village slept, there was a scintilla quaking of something far, far greater. An ill amount of chakra was filtering out as the entire foundation of the estate seldom trembled, though enough to catch the attention of the inhabitants.

Fortunately, the quaking of the chakra was being suppressed by two factors, less the chakra would slip out into the village; the seals placed upon the vault's walls, and the lone occupant within the vault. Well, the lone _human_ occupant. The elder present in the vault was not what'd be expected of someone even half of his age. It was no secret that he was over one hundred plus years of age, even if the exact number was unknown to most. Yet, he remained relatively youthful to the point it was almost abhorrent, appearing no older than a healthy sixty or even fifty with grey streaks through his once dark brown, short, spiky hair. He was even more impressive than Ryusei, considering he had at least forty or so years on him. He was adorned in a large amount of scars with one running from the right side of his lip and halfway to his chin. He was about 6'10" in height with a rather well built body that was surprisingly lean and powerful, second only to his own son or the Raikage in terms of mass.

Like Ryusei, what gave away his true, apparent age was the look in his deep grey eyes that showed the gaze of a strong, defiant man in the face of life's harshness. Love, hate, pain, joy, suffering, and hardship all consolidated within each fierce sphere. The most present of them all... was **power**.

This man possessed many, many names throughout his long life. Many of them were, admittedly, of his design. However, few could deny the claim that all of them were well earned. The Dragon of the West, the Single-Stroke World-breaker, the second coming of of Ryugensei herself, the Adamant Dragon God of Cremation: Ryuken Kamikura.

"Calm down, all of you." Ryuken spoke out in his deep, elderly, yet powerful voice within the dimly lit bottom floor of the multi-storied vault. Along each of the six floors were compartments and safes built into the walls in hexagons, matching the shape the vault was built in. There were the occasional pile of scrolls lined up next to compartments and overstuffed bookshelves near each set of stairs. Seals were placed along each of them.

Ryuken had been sitting down on the cushioned matting in the center with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Around him were four of the weapons simply referred to as the _Ancients_ by the Kamikura Thirteen Dragons' Council. The council was the ruling body of the Kamikura, composed of the elders of each major family in the clan, which included the Atama Ryu, or 'Head Dragon'.

To his right and left were two dusty, long weapon cases that were used to house something at least the size of a halberd or long spear, which had the words, 'Ressho' and 'Hokai', on top of them respectively. Around his waist was his own weapon, an old Odachi with a black hilt and sheath that had golden, flaming, dragon designs. Before him, along the wall instead of a few feet away, was a small, cracked katana case on a podium with chains wrapped around it and seals all over the top and sides of it. "I do not believe it to be anything more than an isolated incident, despite how... pungent it may be."

The entire vault rumbled around the elderly man as he went silent for a few moments, as if listening to something. Once it stopped, he slowly nodded his head and looked to his left in the direction of the Ressho weapon case.

"You may have a point, but... the odds-"

There was another rumble, this one being a little less intense and much more quiet.

"Hm... I suppose you're right, any risk should be crushed, no matter the level." Ryusei muttered as if pondering something to himself. "Speaking of which, use those manners you always mention and keep your voices down."

The rumbling paused for a moment before returning in the form of small vibrations through the very air. Ryuken nodded at the change before letting out a small sigh and pulling his long pipe from his sleeve. After pressing his finger into the bowl, and exerting the smallest amount of his chakra, smoke began to fill the Vault.

"Must you always smoke that thing? It'll kill you, and it stinks." Ryuken's ears twitched ever so slightly when he heard the voice of his son call out from the upper floors of the vault. Ryuken figured he must had been too busy suppressing the chakra around him to detect Ryusei's chakra earlier. "Not that you smelled particularly pleasant before."

"Many men have tried to kill me, now many rest in peace. They'd roll over in their graves if I were to be slain by simple herbs. I think even I'd roll over in my grave if it were to happen." Ryuken said as he watched his son make his way down the spiraling stairwell that lead to Ryuken's floor.

"It would be quite the insult, wouldn't it? Such a powerful warrior, who faced thousands, dying at the hands of something with no hands. At the funeral, the only tears present would be from the strain of withholding our laughter." Ryusei paused for a moment to cough roughly as he reached a floor low enough for the wretched smoke to reach his already damaged lungs. Once he regained control, he hit his chest a few times, cleared his throat... then went right back to talking.

"The council would petition to have the name of the clan be changed just to disassociate it from your blunder and anticlimactic passing. I bet the scribes would write that out of the history books to preserve your glory." Ryusei chuckled lightly as he prodded at his father's pride and made it to the lowest floor to stand behind the elder.

"Or what's left of that glory."

There was then another ripple of vibrations through the air that sounded similar to... laughter.

Ryuken grew silent as he released a large amount of smoke out towards the wooden case to his left, where the ripples seemed to had been originating, earning a few vibrations to be released at him in protest. "I see, is that a challenge? Perhaps you should partner with him to take me on." Ryuken threatened as he pointed his pipe at the case as if accusing it, his other hand placed back along the sheath of his Odachi.

"You know, back when everyone thought you were already senile, I defended you. But seeing the way you're talking to, and even challenging, that weapon case has me seriously questioning my judgment." Ryusei let out another of his loud laughs as he was joined with a chorus of quaking that returned more powerful than earlier.

"I thought I told you to keep your voice down," Ryuken shot the weapon case an ominous glare as he released an amount of Killing Intent so potent it choked Ryusei and caused much more coughing than either his illness or the smoke could, combined. The very air around Ryuken grew hotter and somehow heavy, as if there were a wall over the immediate area, making it somewhat inextricable. The display was effective, as the quaking quickly quieted back down to low vibrations.

"And you," Ryuken turned his glare back towards his son, who had just taken a gulp of the medicine Nadamara delivered, "you know full well who I am speaking to. Or has your sickness finally affected what was left of your mind and maturity?"

Ryusei pouted and sighed, deciding to cease his jokes as his elbows lowered in defeat for the second time. "You're as harsh as ever... how did mother ever put up with you?" Ryusei childishly muttered to himself at a volume he knew his father could hear, hoping to entice his anger a bit more. "Oh, and I had everyone in the estate go home or in the village because of you, I even had to use my allowance." He muttered the last part with a roll of his grey eyes.

"Will you three ever stop bickering? It makes me ashamed to be here with you." A soft female voice filled the ears of both Kamikura in sync with a series of vibrations. Ryuken closed his eyes and crossed his arms, returning to how he was before the conversation started.

"Sorry, you know how I hate the damnable smoke! He literally blew it in my face!" The Ressho weapon case to the left of Ryuken, the same one he had spewed smoke all over, vibrated with each word spoken in a young male's voice. "And little Ryusei has always been funny."

"Little? I'll use you as a toothpick!" Ryusei yelled out to the weapon case, being somewhat offended.

"I care not for either of your childish senses of humor, and Ryuken is not one to act unless provoked." Ryuken smirked lightly as he kept his eyes closed when the case to his right, the one with Hokai written on top of it, vibrated and spoke her words of wisdom. "However, that does not excuse you, Ryuken."

"Spare me your words and let us get back to the task at hand." Ryuken was quick to switch the subject as he opened his eyes and glanced over his shoulder at Ryusei. "It may be a good thing you happened by, Ryusei... we were discussing the disturbance in the air and what our course of action should be."

"Disturbance?" Ryusei was genuinely confused by what Ryuken meant. The only disturbance he was aware of was the estate shaking, but that was caused by the Ancients failing to restrain themselves when they 'spoke'.

"Ryuken, are you sure your son is..." the female voice hesitated for a moment, as if she were looking for the right words to say, "...still fit to be Atama?" She managed to speak in a tone that both displayed her sympathy and concerns for the position. "His chakra has been waning, his senses are even worse, and I can detect that even his weapon partner is conflicted about his state."

Ryuken frowned at the case to his right, but, he had to agree with her. His son was once a masterful sensor and excellent shinobi, capable of detecting almost any chakra from vast distances and had mastered the five basic chakra natures, but now he couldn't even detect the **enormous** tempest in the very atmosphere. 'Perhaps... it is time I started grooming Sogekori...'

A sudden and powerful burst of chakra caught both Ryuken and the Ancients' attention as it filled the Vault to the brink and threatened to spill out. A powerful gust of wind blew off layers of cobwebs and dust, throwing scrolls about. The heat that was being emitted cracked some of the paint used on the wooden railings. It was Ryusei, whose body was currently shrouded in a white veil with an almost ominous smile on his face. "**I assure you, though my body may be failing, even if I'm half the man I used to be; I'm still ten times more a man than anyone you could name with a resolve that has never been stronger!**"

Ryuken kept silence for a moment as Ryusei's chakra returned to normal. He had been concerned for his son, yes. But... the role of Atama Ryu of the Kamikura clan was not a role to be taken so lightly. It was not a hereditary role, either. The Kamikura is a clan that praised merit and might. Not petty, so-called nobility. Any Kamikura could contest to any role in the clan and even be the head family, all they needed was the power and strength to prove they deserved it. Power and ability decided everything in the clan. That's why Ryuken had been leader as long as he had, because he was the strongest in the clan in all that time. He still was. Had Ryuken not grown tired of the constant politics and debates, he'd still be Atama Ryu of the clan.

It wasn't that Ryuken wanted his line to continue being the power in the Kamikura - well, he did want that. But the truth was that the rest of the candidates were dangerous to the clan or completely incompetent. The other elders were more keen on goals that threatened the deals Ryuken had set in place nearly a century ago. Deals that have lead to the long term prosperity of the clan. So what if it caused the Kamikura to lose something they prided? Without his intervention all the years ago at the _Summit_, he felt that the Kamikura would had went the way of the Uzumaki or even the Kaguya clan by now; scattered or dead.

"Besides, what could be so important for you to say, 'it's good you happened by'?" Ryusei dropped his intimidating and serious expression for one that almost seemed like a child's while he pointed his finger at his father, as if prosecuting him. "I told you I got married, you said finally, I managed to reopen trade with Kumogakure, you said it was inevitable, I grow this glorious mustache, you said shave it!" Ryusei paused a moment to stroke his self-proclaimed 'glorious' mustache as sparkles somehow appeared by his eyes. "You never say the word good, at least not to me! Your only handsome, begotten, son."

"You're one of four boys."

"I said, only _handsome_ son!"

The left weapon began to laugh again just as loudly as before, but was mindful not to grow too excited again. He'd already been chewed out, he didn't want to be punished by his sister and fellow Ancient, who was actually the weapon across from him to Ryuken's right.

Ryuken simply sighed and closed his eyes. He shook his head and thought about how he could only blame himself for Ryusei's maturity issues, considering he has had a tendency in the past to baby his children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. He just enjoyed seeing a newer generation experience the best and most they could when they grow because his generation was marked with men and women who hadn't had the chance to experience anything but death, endless war, and bitterness as children. Hell, Ryuken himself was brutally trained as a child soldier until the Fall of the Old Land of Iron when he was around thirteen.

When a few waves of chakra were suddenly dispersed from the chained up katana case, Ryuken's eyes narrowed and he looked forward at it. He felt his Odachi around his hips suddenly heat up and nudging against him until he slowly took a hold of it. Just as Ryuken gripped it, there was suddenly a crack in the case and the sounds of the chains being pulled.

"**He** has woken up."

Ryusei's eyes widened in a mixture of both shock and horror at his father's words, a gasp escaping his lips. '_He_... woke up?' He thought to himself as his eyes looked from his father, to the case to the right, then slowly up towards the chained case up against the wall. He hadn't noticed it earlier, because he had been goofing off, but the chakra being released was familiar. He could recognize it through his weakened abilities even though it's been entire decades since the last time he felt it.

And it was as pernicious as ever.

A gear switched in his head and his demeanor became something it rarely ever changed to: one of solemnity. Ryusei crossed his arms after he pocketed his medicine. He grit his teeth and gripped his hand along his bicep in an effort to ease the tension he felt. After a few moments, Ryusei frowned and walked slowly towards the center of the floor, right next to his father. His strong jaw clenched as he leered sternly out at the lone weapon case that had begun cracking and trembling, releasing even more chakra into the Vault and caused everything around and above them to palpitate.

Ryusei knew what it meant if that particular Ancient woke up, it meant something big was about to happen. Something that threatened not just the Kamikura, but probably the entire continent. Ryusei only prayed that, whatever it was, it hadn't happened yet. "What do you need me to do?"

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A/N: So, I'm a horrible person. I promised to try and make this chapter shorter but here I am with 16,000 or so words. Well, it is technically shorter than last chapter, but...

Alright, one of my best friends and the creator of the lovely Nadamara, best friend and bed mate of Motoko, joked around with an idea of Nadamara getting angry with Motoko when she finds out that she left on a mission. She naturally assumes the Kamikura ANBU forgot to grab a medic. This same friend makes some semi-canon to non-canon one-shot lemon pairings for my characters and is the source of the Sogeki/Natsu jokes in the story made by Motoko and Nadamara. Weird, I know. Anyway, to anyone interested in her little one-shots, they'll eventually be uploaded after polishing and editing. I'll let you know when they're ready.

Anyway, I told my friend that if she wrote something for it, I'd put it at the end of this chapter as an omake. It's not canon to **The Scales of Peace and War**, but, is like a 'what if'. Anyway, here you go, Scales' first fan made omake:

"Damn that Mokoto." Taking the white medical kunoichi cap from her head, Nadamara shoved it into the pocket of her uniform as she stormed through the forest surrounding her home. Upon waking this morning she thought it would just be another day, work her shift, deal with coworkers, take some medication to Ryusei, and then home for unwinding.

Nadamara's plans, however, were shattered as she made the delivery; there she was informed that Mokoto had been seen leaving in the direction of Nadamara's secluded home. 'Leave it to that monster woman to mess everything up.'

Glowering before her own door, the small blonde medical kunoichi practically kicked it in as a long string of incoherent curses and profanities came pouring from her lips.

No reply.

Stepping inside, Nadamara realized the ANBU commander wasn't lurking anywhere nearby. If she were, Nadamara's burning waves of chakra would have been met by the freezing blasts of her old friend in reply to the challenge. Instead, Nadamara stood alone in the small, but efficient, work space she called a home as her fiery temper sizzled out.

Now calm, the woman's long braid brushed about the back of her knees as she looked about the space. Finally, her eyes settled on what she was looking for. Sighing, Nada pulled the chopstick from the wall along with the note it held in place.

"Stopped by for a quick _'moment'_ before leaving for my new mission, but you weren't here. Off to chase some chakra shit so maybe a rain check. Won't be the same at the Land of Hot Springs without you!"

The temperature of the room began to rise once more as Nadamara's temper did. She wasn't sure which she should be angrier about, the fact that Mokoto had run off on some mission with about as little forethought as usual, or the nature of the note's implications. Slamming the page onto a nearby table, she turned sharply towards her bedroom.

The difference between her looks for work and for missions easily resembled night and day. When at work, the short statured woman, standing at about 5'0", wore the standard medical kunoichi uniform with high stockings. Nadamara now, dressed in her casual clothes, looked as if she were going to pull out weapons not particularly designed for shinobi.

Nearly her entire outfit was as black as night, her usually hidden choker was now attached to the straps of the bikini like top that held her chest in relative place and nearly showed the tattoo of the wings marked into the flesh of her back, her upper right arm sporting a thick band adorned with spikes in a matching style to the band around the end of her braid, tight leather pants cut low to expose the red flame tattoo on her left hip.

The only sign it was still the same ever dedicated to work Nada was her signature long blonde braid reaching her knees and curling bangs that framed her face with the single side by side strips of white and black dye.

Grabbing her bag of medical and other supplies, wrapping it around her waist, the woman set off in the general direction Mokoto mentioned in the note. She would have to move fast in order to catch up with the ANBU commander and whoever else that monster woman managed to drag along. Fast wasn't exactly her strong suit. Even at a full sprint, Nadamara tended to move a bit slower than average thanks in part to her stature and buxom build. There was one method of movement, however, that occasionally helped her make up for it.

Scampering up to the nearest tree, Nada dropped to all fours and began crawling and jumping along the branches much faster than she could run. This movement looked odd to say the least, but would get the job done as she rushed toward her friend's destination.

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Mokoto glanced at the gathering of lizards that had occurred over the past few minutes. One salamander was an odd, but, not unusual sight. But to see so many scaly creatures simply staring at her could only mean _she_ was coming.

Indeed, the massive woman could sense the chakra from her small friend long before she could hear her ragged breath; much less see her crawling along the trees. Smirking, she waited for the blonde to reach the ground, approaching only as Nadamara half stood, panting and leaning against the tree.

"Some kunoichi you are, I could tell you were coming practically from the moment you left your house."

"Then why didn't you wait? Damn ice dragon with your bullshit speed…" Nadamara could barely choke the sentence out as she tried to catch her breath. She wasn't about to let Mokoto have the last word. "You didn't bring a medic did you?"

Mokoto snorted as she raised her head in superiority. "Why would I need to? I've manage to put together an impressive team, as usual. Having a medic would just slow us down, especially if that medic is you."

"Oh shut up, I'm here to keep you from dying and this is how you thank me? I had to take time off from work you know."

Mokoto's biting reply was cut off by Sogeki hampering the ever delicious banter as usual. "You did mention all we were missing was a medic, Nadamara should join us."

"LITTLE SO!" Sogeki flinched as he had to restrain himself from hurting Nadamara in an attempt to block her lunge at him. Instead, he simply allowed the attack to happen, finding his face crushed into her impressively large bosom. "Look at you! Out and about on a mission! Oh, and look, Natsu as well, how are you?" The suddenly revitalized blonde gave a nod of respect and acknowledgment to Natsu as she continued to crush Sogeki and otherwise dote upon him before turning back to Mokoto. "I hope you're giving these boys the alone time they need."

Groaning slightly and rolling his eyes, Sogeki grew silently more irritated with both of Nadamara's treating him like a small child and her insistence that he and Natsu were anything more than friends. Both he and Natsu, who was close behind Sogeki, were still relieved to see the medical kunoichi, despite her sudden outburst. She was one of the few people either brave or stupid enough to outright challenge Mokoto and even talk some sense into her. Adding on the fact that what Nadamara lacked in fighting capabilities and speed, she made up for in intellect, power, and medical skills, ten times over, she was a welcomed addition to the team.

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So, that goes chapter two "-the inevitable-" in all it's transparent glory. Up next will either be a short chapter from the stuff I cut out of this chapter, or the "**Storm**!"

First things first, I'd like to apologize for my mistake last chapter where I stated that Ieyasu Tokugawa was the man to end the Sengoku Jidai and the first to conquer all of Japan. It was actually Hideyoshi Toyotomi who was the first to conquer it. He was the successor to Nobunaga Oda, the first of the 'Three Unifiers of Japan.' Oda dedicated his life to the goal of conquering Japan, but only managed to get a third of it under his rule before his death. Hideyoshi himself was hailed as the Second Great Unifier, while Ieyasu was hailed as the Third. Hideyoshi was the first to unify all of Japan, being the successor to Oda, whereas Ieyasu was the one to stabilize and strengthen it with the creation of his Shogunate, reuniting Japan after some infighting, thus ending the Sengoku Jidai. It was a bad slip up on my part as I forgot about the middle man, I remembered Oda and Tokugawa, but completely forgot about Toyotomi. "Oda pounds the national rice cake, Hideyoshi kneads it, and in the end Ieyasu sits down and eats it." Is the old saying that reminded me. There is also an old jangle that children are taught to teach them the mindset of each ruler.

_What if the bird will not sing?_

_Nobunaga said, "Kill it."_

_Hideyoshi said, "Make it want to sing."_

_Ieyasu said, "Wait."_

As you can tell, Ieyasu was a much more... mellow man. That's why I chose him of the three to appear in Ryuken's backstory spin-off.

Speaking of Ryuken, I apparently already have some people really liking what I said and written about him even before this chapter, especially his younger self. Inspiration keeps flooding around from that, haha. The ever lovely and awesome AmandaJohnson1010, who will likely kill me upon reading this, has even written a one shot of him. I may end up editing it and adjusting what she wrote for Ryuken so it's more in character for him. You'd be surprised how close she was to nailing him, though, haha. Once I finished editing it, I'll either have her upload it or upload it myself and give her credit.

As for my **Expanded World Project**, I currently have, somewhat, recruited two awesome writers to join me and I hope to collaborate with them until we're all set to launch our assault on AU's and other stories. Unfortunately, my phone is sporadically in and out of service each month because I end up not having enough to pay it, so, I have to visit places with Wi-Fi just to talk to them. It doesn't help that they're super busy, but, that's life. The two writers are **Yuri Tora** and **AmandaJohnson1010**, one of which will kill me twice over now that I've called her out. Again. To that, I say:

**Know that if you strike me down now, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.**

Props to anyone who knows where that's a reference from.

**Recommendation Time:** This chapter's recommendation goes out to **DeisuiNeko** and his awesome story of **Snow Angels**. It was actually one of the first stories I ended up reading on this site. The story is a NaruHina, so there's enough of a reason to read if you're a fan. The chapters are about 8,000 in length on average and there are over 30 chapters, so you're in for a good, decently long read. It takes place two years after the war, around the time The Last would have taken place, but the story was written long before the end of the manga. Around Neji's death, from my estimation. Anyway, it's an excellent read, in my opinion, as even **SeriousSam **reads it.

Oh, my. Calling out three people in one author's note? I must be as masochistic as Natsu "Eagle" Hyuga.

Speaking of Sam, I may be having a small collaboration project with him. As in, I write, he looks over to make sure it matches what he wants, then he'll include it into his story, _**My Precious People**_, if it's deemed acceptable. If it goes well, I hope to write a small series of one shots for the other characters in his story. Anyway, the one I'm working on now will likely be called "**Prelude to Destruction: Origins of the Destroyer.**" If you guys read My Precious People, and know the meanings to many of the names in it, you'll know which character this little project is for.

I'd say more, but I promised to make this Author's Note shorter than the last one, and, besides, there is always a chance the project explodes and won't be included in his story. Anyway, see you guys and lovely gals later! In other words:

**Wake me... when you need me.**


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